


Cherry Meets Lilo and Stitch

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-27 16:31:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 37,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6291826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cherry invites the Fudo family to come with her on a free trip to the Hawaiian Islands. On the way, there is an adventure that awaits them as they meet a young girl named Lilo who adopts a very strange and unusual pet who seems to be not from this world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cherry was on her way to the Fudo house with something in her pockets.

Atticus came to get Patch, Darla, and himself a late breakfast. "I had this weird dream..."

"Me too." Patch said.

"Can't be stranger than mine." Atticus chuckled.

"Wanna bet?" Patch asked.

Darla came into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes with a small yawn.

"Morning, Sis, you won't believe the dream I had." Atticus said to his adopted sister.

"What happened?" Darla asked as she took a seat while he made breakfast for them.

"It was like something out of a sci-fi movie," Atticus said. "There was this court trial for this mad scientist alien that made something he called Experiment 626 and he was put under arrest for... Illegal... Something..."

"No way, that's the same thing that I saw in my dream." Patch said.

"Really?" Atticus asked.

"I dreamt about flying in the air..." Darla smiled as she waved her tiny hands like wings.

"What an amazing dream." Emily smiled.

Cherry knocked on the door.

"I'll get it, dear." Emily told Atticus since he was cooking breakfast.

"Sure, Mom." Atticus nodded as he then cooked while thinking about his and Patch's dream.

Emily opened the door. "Cherry, what a surprise."

"Excuse me for being early, Mrs. Fudo, but I was hoping to ask Atticus and Darla something, and maybe even Patch." Cherry replied.

"Well, we're about to have breakfast at the moment, but you can come in if you want." Emily said.

"I'll make this quick." Cherry promised as she stepped inside the house for a moment.

Emily let her in, then came back into the kitchen.

Atticus, Darla, and Patch greeted Cherry and she greeted back, then it was time for the topic of why she was there.

"You guys ever wanna go to Hawaii?" Cherry prompted.

"You know it." Atticus, Darla, and Patch smiled.

"Good..." Cherry smirked, then took out plane tickets.

"What!?" Atticus, Darla, and Patch asked.

"I was bored listening to the radio and there was a win free tickets to Hawaii contest for the thirteenth caller," Cherry said. "I figured 'what the heck?'."

"Do we need a shaporon?" Darla asked.

"Shaparon?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, an adult to look after us while we're traveling." Darla said.

"Oh, a chaperon..." Cherry said then. "Yeah, we do."

"Mom, you wanna do it?" Atticus asked.

"Well, maybe..." Emily smiled halfway. "I could use a vacation... Plus, it's sometimes hard to keep the house still standing by myself while your father's out of town for important business... Well, okay!"

"Great." Atticus smiled.

"Sounds good, I know it's sudden, but I figured you guys could use a vacation." Cherry said.

"We really could." Atticus said.

"I've never been to Hawaii before..." Darla sounded excited. "Oh, I hope I can take a hula class."

"That sounds like a good idea." Emily approved.

"I wonder if we can watch." Patch smiled.

Darla smiled bashfully as she daydreamed about becoming a hula dancer.

"You ever dance outside of the movies?" Atticus asked.

"I wanted to take ballet classes, but LB wouldn't let me..." Darla pouted.

"He never did let you go out and make friends very much, did he?" Patch asked. "I think I understand why you were kind of a spoiled brat in Hollywood."

"Yeah, all because of LB Mammoth." Atticus said.

"Oh, you poor dear..." Emily hugged Darla.

"I wish you could've come to the orphanage instead of him..." Darla smiled up to her new mother.

"Me too, honey, me too." Emily smiled.

After breakfast, Atticus and Patch came back to his room, pondering the dream they had while also being excited for Hawaii.

'I wonder what that dream was all about.' Atticus said.

"Did you watch a sci-fi movie before you went to bed last night?" Patch asked Atticus.

"No, I didn't," Atticus shook his head. "Did you?"

"Not that I remember..." Patch pouted. "That thing in the jar freaked me out though..."

"Me too..." Atticus said. "What did it even say?"

"I have no idea, but it wasn't 'Dog'." Patch shuddered.

"Well, whatever it said must have been a bad word." Atticus said.

"I just remember that this lady who seemed to be in charge of everything didn't like it one bit." Patch said.

"No, she didn't..." Atticus said. "Oh, well, it was just a dream..."

"Yeah." Patch nodded.

Atticus smiled to him as he then lay back on his bed. "I wonder what Hawaii will be like..."

"Probably like it is on TV." Patch guessed. "But better."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Atticus smiled.

Patch smiled back as they daydreamed about a vacation in Hawaii. And where it was with surfing and where Atticus also daydreamed of being in a body-builder's contest.

Patch daydreamed of maybe surfing. "Cowabunga!" he laughed and hooted in his fantasy as a lot of people cheered for him.

After the wave passed, Patch was in the sand, being given a flower lei with a golden crown and Colette came over and gave him a winning kiss.

In reality, Patch was kissing the wall.

"Patch? Patch... PATCH!" Atticus called.

"Huh, what?" Patch woke up then.

"Why are you kissing that wall?" Atticus asked.

"Uhh... Well... Because I love this wall out of the other ones..." Patch said with a sheepish smile, then kissed the wall again.

Atticus laughed. "Silly puppy..." He then laid back on his bed and began to daydream.

Patch just remembered something, then decided to go. "I'll be right back."

Atticus nodded to him, then continued to daydream about their upcoming vacation.

Patch went to the window and did a quick call to someone, then went out the doggy door to a meeting place he always met a certain someone to just talk or maybe exchange something with that somebody. He waited as he sat at the spot by himself, hoping a dog-catcher wouldn't take him away while he was waiting.

Colette emerged from the bushes. "What's up?"

"I'm going to Hawaii with Cherry, Atticus, Darla, and Emily." Patch told her.

"Oh, that'll be fun," Colette smiled. "I hear it's sun, surf, and boat loads of fun!"

"That's what I'm hoping for." Patch smiled.

"Well, have fun." Colette smiled.

"I'll bring you back something." Patch promised.

"You don't need to." Colette smiled softly.

"I want to." Patch insisted.

"Well, okay, only if you want to." Colette said.

Patch smiled and nuzzled against the female cocker spaniel.

Atticus continued to daydream. Daydream starts.

The daydreamed showed the tropical paradise of the Hawaiian Islands. Mo was wearing a floral gown that was a coral reef color and had a flower in her hair as the ocean waves seemed to dance behind her.

"Hey, there, little lady." A muscular beach bully smirked at Mo.

Mo frowned at the bully. "Go away!"

"You look like you could use a little company." the beach bully laughed.

"Why don't you leave her alone?" Atticus asked, sounding serious.

"Who's gonna make me, geek?" the beach bully mocked before kicking sand against him.

As if on cue, a man appeared with a banner that said body-builders contest.

"I challenge you," Atticus challenged. "You, me, bodybuilding."

"Sucker's bet." the beach bully laughed in his face, thinking Atticus was only puny.

"Then let's just see who's the loser in the contest." Atticus said.

The beach bully stuck his tongue out, going his own way.

"I'll show you..." Atticus glared. "And I'll win the heart of my own Pineapple Princess."

"We'll soon see about that." The beach bully remarked.

"Hmph." Atticus nodded back firmly.

"Aloha, geek face." the beach bully scoffed, going off.

They both then went up to the registration desk and signed up. A woman behind the desk nodded to them and showed a golden trophy to them which would be given to the winner with a free luau dinner night with front row seats to see the fire dancers up close. Atticus smiled, already knowing who he was going to take with him as soon as he won. Atticus and the beach bully began to practice until it would be time for the competition.

And where after a short time it was time for the body-builder contest to begin so both Atticus and the beach bully got themselves dressed with the clothes they were given. People gathered around as it was time for the competition between the beach bully and Atticus. And where both of them came on to the stage with only them wearing swim trunks. The judge then gestured for the beach bully to go first.

The beach bully smiled smugly, then grabbed a very heavy bar bell of 50 pounds and lifted it right off the ground. And where he started to flex his muscles after doing it. There was light applause for him. The judge then gestured to Atticus for him to go next. Atticus went up to the stage next and lifted up a 500,000 pound weight and then flexed his muscles.

The crowd was even more impressed with Atticus's strength. Everyone began to applaud Atticus before the judges brought the trophy up to him. Mo jumped over to Atticus into his open arm and shared a kiss with him on the lips as fireworks sparked behind the romantic ocean sunset.

"Atticus?" Darla asked. "Why are you kissing that pillow?"

Atticus's eyes widened as he woke up from his daydream, then saw Darla leaning against the door-frame with a smirk on her face and her free hand on her hip. "Uhh... Well... I... I was just practicing kissing..." he explained nervously.

"Uh-huh, sure." Darla smirked.

Atticus stuck his tongue out at her. Darla did the same and rolled her eyes. The two then laughed and hugged each other.

"So you almost packed?" Atticus asked.

"Mama Emily helped me," Darla smiled. "I'm so excited!"

"Same here." Atticus smiled.

"Too bad Daddy Patrick can't join us..." Darla pouted.

"It's okay, Dimples, I'm sure we'll all go together somewhere..." Atticus soothed.

"Yeah... Still, it's nice just to have family vacations..." Darla smiled at that. "Oh! I better call Amber." she then walked off to her room briefly, then took out her phone as she went to her room and dialed the number and told her best friend all about the trip.

"I wonder how Dad is doing right now with his new strength." Atticus said while looking out the window.

Patrick was in a hotel of where he was staying out of town on the phone with a new colleague. "When can we meet?"

"We'll have to meet maybe for dinner tomorrow," the colleague replied over the phone. "I have a case to go to tomorrow after lunch for my part time job, I'm also a social worker. I've been seeing this client for a while now."

"Social worker?" Patrick asked. "So you check in on families to see if they're happy and healthy?"

"Precisely," the colleague replied. "I'll have to rent a car as well, I hate to see anything go wrong on this case, but I will see you as soon as I finish."

"Great." Patrick said while lifting up some weights.

"I apologize for the inconvenience." the colleague replied.

"You're fine, thank you for calling." Patrick stated maturely.

"No problem, by the way, I have this feeling that you might be dog piled by a couple of goons." The Colleague said.

"I'm sorry?" Patrick asked then, slightly overwhelmed.

He then saw that there were a couple of goons coming at him.

"Oh, thanks for the warning, I'll talk to you later, I have company," Patrick said before hanging up. "Listen, guys, you don't wanna mess with me."

"You don't wanna mess with us..." one goon poked his finger against Patrick's chest.

"Look, I don't know why you're here, but you better leave before you get hurt." Patrick warned.

"First, we're here because we're here to kill you and second,... DOG-PILE!" The first goon shouted before all of the goons dog-piled on top of Patrick.

Patrick yelped, trying to run away from that, but the goons piled on top of him. "Big mistake..." he grumbled. "One... Two... THREE!" he then stood up, carrying them all over his back and glared. "I warned you."

"What the heck?!" The first goon glared.

"Let's take this outside, I'd hate to pay for an expensive room..." Patrick smirked, he then set the goons down and lifted them with a magic blast from his hands and threw them out the window, then came after them.

The goons screamed and looked very confused and scared of Patrick. Patrick smirked and came over to them, folding his arms.

"You're not human!" the first goon said.

"Really?" Patrick deadpanned. "What was your first clue?"

"B-B-B-But, we were only told that you were human, how did you get magic and that kind of strength?" The second goon asked scared.

"Wiccan magic by genetics, strength by my thoughtful son," Patrick smiled smugly. "At your service."

"Uh-oh." The goons said, scared.

Patrick grinned smugly. "I didn't wanna have to hurt ya, but i feel you leave me no choice~..."

This caused them to gulp before he lifted them all up.

"Goin' my way?" Patrick smirked.

"How is this possible!?" the first goon, who was probably the leader, demanded.

Patrick didn't answer them, but just simply soccer kicked them out of the country and back to where they came from. "Phew!" he then wiped his forehead. "That's my work-out for the day..." he then smiled as he came back to the room he was staying in and looked at the family photo he had, looking directly Atticus's shot. "And I couldn't have done it without you."

Back at the house, Atticus continued to pack up for the trip. Patch helped in any way that he could. After Darla had packed her things, she was having a daydream of her very own about visiting Hawaii.

Darla saw herself in a pink heart shirt with a grass skirt and a leaf wreath over her head and she was dancing with hula dancers aligned next to her. One of them was a black-haired girl. Darla wasn't sure who this girl was, but she smiled and danced with her as the beating of the drums seemed to highlight their dancing.

There were suddenly flames, but luckily, they did not burn the girls. Darla and the black-haired girl stopped dancing and looked over to see one of the fire dancers. He stepped out of the shadows, looking quite familiar, he had longish blonde hair with copper brown eyes.

"Urchin!" Darla beamed.

Urchin waved at her while dancing. Darla and the black-haired girl sat on their knees as Urchin danced like the fire dancers, spinning and twirling the flames on torches without burning himself. Darla couldn't help but swoon over like a drooling fan girl.

"Darla, are you ready?" Emily asked.

Darla woke up suddenly. "Uh, yeah, my bag's under my bed now." she then smiled shyly to her new mother.

"You all right, dear?" Emily asked. "You look like you were in another world..."

"More like Heaven..." Darla mumbled nervously since she had daydreamed about Urchin.

"Let me guess, you were daydreaming, right?" Emily smirked.

"Uhh... Yeah..." Darla mumbled.

"About boys?" Emily asked.

Darla gaped at her. "How did you know!?"

"Jessie did the same at your age," Emily giggled. "Is this a boy you go to school with? Did you know him in Hollywood?"

Darla rubbed her arm. "Actually, it's Urchin."

"Awww!" Emily smiled.

"I've thought about him a lot lately..." Darla said. "Even though he bugs me..."

"He bugs you?" Emily asked.

"He keeps callin' me 'Goldilocks'..." Darla pouted. "He just keeps annoying me and messing with my head..."

Emily smiled. "That's how a young boy shows he likes you."

"Ohh," Darla said, now understanding, but not really. "What?"

"I know it sounds strange, but it's true..." Emily said. "Ya know, since we'll be near an ocean, you just might be able to see him if you bring your shell from my sister, Athena."

"You think so...?" Darla sounded almost hopeful.

"Never know unless you try..." Emily shrugged. "Since you'll be near the ocean, you could think of him coming on vacation with us and he might be able to turn into a human so you two can spend some time together."

"That sounds perfect." Darla smiled.

"Never know unless you try." Emily smiled back.

"True," Darla smiled. "So, Mom, do you think they'll have body-builder contests in Hawaii? Knowing Atticus, he'll want to enter."

"I'm sure they have some, but I don't know honestly," Emily said. "I have an old friend in Hawaii though, her name's Layla and she really liked this boy Jose Pelekai she told me about... Maybe she could tell us if we see her."

"Yay!" Darla cheered.

Emily giggled, then hugged Darla. "You do realize you called me 'Mom', right?" she then asked. "You always called me Mama Emily before."

"Oh, I'm sorry, does that bother you?" Darla asked, a little concerned.

"No, not at all, dear." Emily smiled.

Darla smiled then.

"It just means that I'm doing a great job raising you." Emily then said.

Darla hugged Emily again, loving the feeling of a real mother's endless warmth and love.

After a short while, everyone was ready for the trip.

"Too bad Jessica can't make it." Atticus said.

"Where is she again?" Patch asked.

"She said she wanted to meet someone from her school, but she sends hugs and kisses." Atticus said.

"Who's this friend of her's again?" Patch asked.

"I think his name's Chris..." Atticus guessed.

"Wait, isn't that her boyfriend?" Patch asked.

"Oh, yeah..." Atticus then slowly smiled with a chuckle. "I really like this one so far, Jessica's never had a real boyfriend before and they've been going out for a while now."

"Cool." Patch smiled.

"Just think, by tomorrow, we'll all be in Hawaii." Emily smiled fondly.

Atticus, Patch, and Darla smiled to that. The Fudo family then went to sleep, dreaming of their upcoming vacation.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, they met at the airport with Cherry and were all set, they got into the plane and they were on their way. Emily sat with Darla while Atticus sat with Cherry.

And as for Patch, well....

"I can't believe I had to be put in with the luggage." Patch groaned.

"Sorry, little buddy, but it's dog policy." a voice said.

Patch looked around for the source of the voice.

"Over here!" the voice said.

There was a familiar scruffy dog with a flea. "Well, well, well... Long time no see."

"Pugsy!" Patch smiled at the dog. "Frankie!"

"What are you doing here?" Frankie asked.

"I could ask you the same question." Patch replied.

"Just travelin' as always," Pugsley replied with a small smile. "Heard about ya in the papers with that cat and mouse, kid, I bet that orphan girl was glad to find out about her old man, huh?"

"Oh, you won't believe it..." Patch smiled, remembering that. "You should've been there."

"Wish we were." Frankie said.

"Yeah, me too." Patch said. "My family and I are going to Hawaii."

"Have a good time, buddy," Pugsley smiled. "We're goin' to someplace called Nevada."

"Never heard of it," Patch said. "But I hope you both have a great time there."

"Have a good time in Hawaii, buddy," Frankie smiled to the Dalmatian puppy. "Ya tell Tom and Jerry we said hi if ya ever see 'em again!"'

"Can do." Patch promised the mutt dog and French flea.

While they got acquainted, Atticus was getting some sleep.

"Night, Atticus..." Cherry told her best friend as she was nearly getting to sleep, but not as quickly as she weakly and slowly chewed on her gum.

Atticus mumbled a good night greeting as he drifted off to sleep. Cherry stared out the window, then hid a strange glance. She could had sworn that she saw a spaceship entering the Earth's atmosphere. She just shrugged it off as her wild imagination and let her mind wander as they took off. Everyone got their beauty sleep.

"Pineapple Princess~" Emily sang in her sleep. "He calls me Pineapple Princess all day, As he plays his ukulele on hill above the bay, Pineapple Princess, I love you, you're the sweetest girl I've ever seen, Some day we're gonna marry and you'll be my Pineapple Queen~"

"Oh, you mean this muscles, Mo?" Atticus said in his sleep. "Yeah, I've been working out a lot."

"Oh, Urchin, I promise, someday we'll be together forever..." Darla cooed in her sleep.

"These people are going to make me sick..." Cherry mumbled.

The mumbling was interrupted as Atticus had a vision of what was gonna go on in Hawaii in the future. The vision was blurry at first, but Atticus could see a young girl around Darla's age with black hair swimming through the ocean and she seemed to be giving a peanut butter sandwich to a fish.

"Giving a fish a sandwich?" Atticus asked.

'Atticus... It appears you have a mysterious adventure...' a female voice said.

"Boy, do I?" Atticus replied, then looked around. "Who said that?"

'You don't remember?' the female voice rhetorically asked. 

Atticus swam up to the surface when he saw a tail fin in the water and came up to see a familiar mermaid sitting on the rocks. "Aunt Athena!"

Athena hugged her nephew. "I've missed you so much... How's your mother?"

"She's doing great, we're on our way to Hawaii." Atticus smiled.

"I hope you have lots and lots of fun," Athena smiled back to him. "I can already tell your sister Darla is going to make a new friend who has much more to her than meets the eye which she will discover someday."

"How do you mean?" Atticus asked.

"Well, she does not know this yet, but she'll have great powers when she grows up," Athena explained. "She is descended from the volcano goddess known as Pele."

"Wow." Atticus smiled.

"Poor girl deserves so much better." Athena said.

"Why?" Atticus then asked. "What's wrong?"

"She's mercilessly bullied and excluded in her class," Athena explained. "They all say she's too different and weird... Especially their leader friend who moved here herself from New York City who thinks she's all that."

"Can boys join hula class?" Atticus asked, having a feeling he might need to make sure the bully leader wouldn't cause trouble for anyone.

"It's mostly for girls and you're a little too old, no offense, dear, but I'm sure the Kumu will like a helping hand." Athena said.

Atticus raised a brow. "Kumu?"

"Oh, my apologies, that's Hawaiian for teacher," Athena replied. "The teacher's name is Moses Puloki."

"Moses Puloki, got it." Atticus said, remembering the name.

"Trust me, this will be no normal Hawaiian vacation." Athena told her nephew.

"Nothing is normal anymore, Aunt Athena..." Atticus said. "Visiting Cousin Wendy told me that normal gets weird sometimes."

"And where she's right." Athena said.

"Oh.... Yeah..." Atticus remembered his vacation in Gravity Falls.

"You're a very special boy," Athena smiled. "That's why you have a lot of these adventures."

"Yeah, I know about the legend." Atticus said.

"You do me so proud..." Athena smiled. "And thank you for making Ariel happy when she fell in love with Prince Eric, even if Triton didn't take it well..."

"Did you like humans too, Aunt Athena?" Atticus asked.

"I liked some, but your mother was more interested in humans," Athena replied. "That's how she met your father and she wanted to live on land... There was a price though, she couldn't come back under the sea as much until we worked things out and you guys visit Atlantica during the summer."

"I guess Ariel got the love of humans and their stuff from Mom." Atticus said.

"It seems so..." Athena giggled. "Oh, I miss your mother so much."

"She misses you too..." Atticus said softly.

"I'll be sure to come in a dream of hers in the future." Athena promised.

"I'm sure that will make her really happy." Atticus smiled.

"I'm sure too..." Athena smiled. "I have to get going now, but remember what I said."

"I'm sure I will." Atticus promised.

"Oh, I should warn you..." Athena said. "Your sister's new friend is going to adopt a pet... And it's... Not of this world..."

"How do you mean?" Atticus asked.

"It's.... It's..." Athena replied.

"Alien." Cherry said.

Atticus woke up from his vision and looked over. "Huh?"

"That's the movie they're showing," Cherry said as she had her eyes forward. "Alien. You wanna watch?"

"Uh, no thanks." Atticus said.

"Suit yourself." Cherry replied stoically.

Atticus sighed as she had interrupted his vision, but tried to think about what his aunt said as they flew in the air.


	3. Chapter 3

Eventually, they landed and they were given a free penthouse suite at the Birds of Paradise Hotel.

"What a wonderful view!" Emily looked out the front deck window as she could see the beach from where she was. 

"We have our own kitchen!" Patch beamed. "This place is like a home away from home!"

"Oh, yes, things are going my way..." Cherry smirked as it was her responsibility of them being here right now.

"Oh, I can't wait to go and see the hula class and join it." Darla smiled.

"Let's get you going then," Atticus said. "Come on, Patch!"

Patch came to their sides.

"I think I'm gonna hang out by the beach, you kids have fun." Emily said.

"Come on, Dimples." Cherry told the blonde girl.

"You got it." Darla smiled.

With that, the kids and puppy then left. Emily tried to call Patrick, but he didn't answer his cell, so she left a message that they were in Hawaii now and to call back as soon as possible, she then went to lounge on the beach. The oceans looked very much alive today and she put her feet into the water, feeling tempted to go for a dip and swim like the youthful mermaid she once was with her sister Athena.

Cherry found a tourist map and followed it to the local hula school with Atticus, Darla, and Patch, Darla being the most excited to go.

"Oh, I can't wait to get there." Darla smiled.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy it." Patch encouraged.

Soon enough, they made it to the building and knocked on the door.

There came a large man with his hair in a low braid and a blue skirt-like bottom with black sandals. "Aloha, may I help you?" he greeted.

"Excuse me, but my sister would like to join your hula class," Atticus said to the man who he highly assumed was Moses. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course, it's no trouble at all." Moses said.

"Really?" Darla asked in delight.

"Really, really," Moses smiled. "Perhaps she'd like to step inside and get to know the girls while your parents fill out her application?"

"Oh, my mother's on the beach," Atticus said. "And my father's out of town for business... I'll do it though."

"How maturely thoughtful, come inside, just make sure your dog doesn't make a mess, okay?" Moses replied.

"Yes, sir." Atticus and Darla replied.

Darla was very excited, she poked her head in to see girls around her age who seemed to be sitting in a circle together. One girl had curly and puffy carrot orange hair with big blue round glasses, a short-sleeved olive green shirt, blue shorts, and blue sandals. Another girl had blonde hair in pigtails in a pink tank top, blue shorts, and purple sandals.

Another girl had curly dark hair in a blue headband, a blue short-sleeved shirt, lighter blue shorts, and dark blue sandals. And the final girl had short brown hair in a green shirt, darker green shorts, and brown sandals. Patch encouraged Darla to go and be social with them as they so far seemed harmless enough.

"By any chance, do any of these girls give anyone any trouble?" Atticus asked him.

"Well... There is one.." Moses replied. "But she's not here yet... She's going to be late, I know she is... She always is... Especially on Thursday...."

"Really, why?" Atticus asked.

"She never told me before..." Moses shrugged.

"Hmm, I think I might know where she is." Atticus said.

Moses gave the boy an odd look, but shrugged. "If you say so..." he then took out a paper and a pen. "Please fill this out for your sister."

"Thanks." Atticus took it as Cherry stood next to him.

"Um... Hi..." Darla came up to the four girls who were in their casual clothes until class would start. 

The four girls then looked at her.

"Haven't I seen you on TV?" The girl with curly and puffy carrot orange hair with big blue round glasses, a short-sleeved olive green shirt, blue shorts, and blue sandals asked.

"Uh, maybe...." Darla shrugged. 

"What's your name?" the blonde pigtailed girl asked.

"Darlene Fudo, but you can call me 'Darla'." Darla replied calmly.

"Wait, Darla?" the curly dark-haired girl asked. "Didn't you used to be Darla Dimple?"

"Um... Well... Yes..." Darla replied.

"Then why are you here?" The short brown-haired girl asked.

"I'm on vacation with my family..." Darla said.

"Really!?" the orange-haired girl looked around with a starstruck smile. "Where are they!? Who are they!? Do they want a new movie star?"

"Actually, I was--" Darla tried to explain that she wasn't a celebrity anymore.

"I'm sorry, girls, but Darla isn't a star anymore, but she's a very special little girl to the Fudo family." Patch smiled.

"Did that Dalmatian just talk?" The blonde girl asked.

"Uh, maybe?" Darla shrugged, unsure whether to be honest or not.

"Hmph!" the orange-haired girl folded her arms in disappointment. "So much for a star studded new BFF..."

"I'm sorry..." Darla said. "We could probably still be friends..."

"Well... I guess that'll be fine, as long as you're not weird..." the orange-haired girl said. "I'm Myrtle."

"I'm Elena." the other blonde girl said.

"Yuki." the short-haired girl added.

"And I'm Teresa." the curly haired girl finished.

"Nice to meet all of you." Darla smiled.

Atticus looked over with a smile once he saw Darla had made some new friends on her first day. Moses kept looking around for another girl, but she had not come. They still had time until the music men and older girl dancers would come though.

"Here you go." Cherry took the application for Atticus, handing it to Moses.

"Oh, mahalo." Moses smiled, taking it right away.

"Are we missing someone?" Darla asked her new friends.

The other girls seemed hesitant to answer that question.

"Oh, no one special..." Myrtle said.

"Would you like to stay on your sister's first day?" Moses asked Atticus.

"I could, just to make sure she gets along okay." Atticus agreed.

"Yeah." Cherry added.

"Very well, it's nearly time to start," Moses said, then walked over to the five little girls. "All right, go get your dresses on, we have a big night coming up. Darla, we have an old one in the back you can use that's just about your size."

"Thank you, sir." Darla curtsied before going to get the old dress they had.

"Cherry, I think you should go and see of what's taking the last student so long." Atticus whispered to his best friend before handing her a description of the little girl and where she would be.

"Um... Okay..." Cherry shrugged, then left the hula school. 

Yuki, Teresa, Myrtle, Elena, and Darla then went backstage to get dressed into their skirts and anything else they may need. As they did that, a couple of adult men and a few young adult women came in, wearing their clothes for the pre-show rehearsal.

"So, what are the girls rehearsing for?" Atticus asked.

"The littlle ones have their first live show coming up," Moses informed Atticus. "We're going to preform a dance with a song entitled 'He Mele No Lilo'."

"What does that mean?" Atticus asked.

"It translates to 'A Song for Lilo'," Moses explained. "It's a very wonderful song."

"It sure sounds like it, I can't wait to hear the song." Atticus smiled.

"You can watch since it's your sister's first class," Moses smiled back. "Just keep that dog under control, okay?"

"You got it," Atticus said. "Right, Patch?"

Patch was about to say something, but then made up bark noises so he wouldn't freak out the hula instructor.

"Very good... Excuse me a moment..." Moses then walked off as the others came for the recital.

Cherry wandered around the beach, looking around for the girl she was sent to look for and where she saw a girl with the exact same description Atticus gave her and saw that she was out in the water. The waves were big, but not dangerously big. The girl emerged from the water as it dripped over her long black hair.

"Uh, hello?" Cherry waved to the little girl.

"Aloha..." the girl greeted as she wrung her ebony hair to let the salty water drips loose. "Are you a tourist?"

"Umm..." Cherry pondered.

"Wait a sec, just hold on..." the girl said, then found a camera and backed up, holding it up to take Cherry's picture. 

"What're you doing!?" Cherry flinched, she did not like getting her picture taken.

"I like to take pictures of things I see." The little girl said.

"Uhh... Okay..." Cherry siad, then put her hands on her hips and gave a small smirk.

The little girl flashed her camera. "Okay, thank you, bye!" she then ran off, grabbing a bag on the way.

"Wait!" Cherry chased after her. "Where are you going!?"

"I'm late for hula class!" The little girl told her.

Cherry ran with her. "Oh, boy, this can't be good..."

The little girl kept trying to slide on her hula skirt and bands while she ran as she was still dripping from the ocean water.


	4. Chapter 4

Atticus and Patch sat in the audience as the older girls danced to the music provided by the men with the song in the background. Darla stood backstage with the other little girls as they waited for their cue. Darla seemed to already love the song while it was playing. The others seemed only slightly nervous. Moses looked to them and signaled for them to come on stage now. Yuki, Teresa, Elena, Myrtle, and Darla then walked out on the stage, Darla paid close attention to their moves so she would know what to do.

"One... Two... Three... Four... Five..." Moses counted, then sighed as the other girl had not shown up.

"I'm sure that whoever is late is on her way right now," Atticus assured him before whispering to himself. "I hope."

Cherry ran with the little girl and she went to the stage door in the back. "You're soaked, hold on!"

The little girl ignored her and came right in as the others had already gone on without her. Moses paced as the late little girl decided to jump in with the crowd when he wasn't looking and started to dance with the others like nothing had happened. Soon the song ended, and the dancers recited an ancient Hawaiian proverb, then suddenly, the others began to slip and fall on the stage.

"Oh, my..." Atticus winced.

"Stop... Stop..." Moses came up on stage. "Lilo..." he looked to the black-haired girl, revealing her name to Atticus, Cherry, Darla, and Patch. "Why are you all wet?"

"It's Sandwich Day." Lilo replied like it was obvious.

Moses gave her an odd look.

Lilo took a deep breath. "Every Thursday, I take Pudge the fish a peanut butter sandwich."

"Pudge is a fish...?" Moses glanced at her strangely. 

"And today we were out of peanut butter!" Lilo continued. "So I asked my sister what to give him and she said a tuna sandwich! I can't give Pudge tuna!" she then whispered. "Do you know what tuna is...?"

"Um, fish." Darla said, obviously.

"IT'S FISH!" Lilo shrieked at the top of her lungs. "If I gave Pudge tuna, I'd be an abomination! I'm late because I had to go the store, and get peanut butter, 'cuz all we have is... Is... STINKIN' TUNA!"

"Lilo..." Moses bent down to her height. "Lilo, why is this so important?"

"Pudge controls the weather." Lilo replied quietly then.

"How can a fish control the weather?" Darla asked.

"She's just crazy." Myrtle muttered nastily.

Lilo glared at her, then tackled her down and started to punch her which made the other girls scream and run away.

"Please! Please!" Moses tried to control his students. "Everybody calm down! Girls..."

Myrtle ran behind the teacher with Yuki, Teresa, and Elena. Darla seemed to now go over to Lilo, not caring what the mean girls, her so-called new friends, thought.

"Lilo..." Moses started.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Lilo got instantly scared and nervous. "I won't do it again!"

"Maybe we should call your sister..." Moses suggested.

"No, I'll be good!" Lilo pleaded. "I wanna dance... I practiced... I just wanna dance... I practiced..."

Moses had a small smile.

"Ew, she bit me..." Myrtle stared at her arm.

"Eww..." the other girls grimaced.

"You okay?" Darla asked Lilo.

"I think so..." Lilo whispered. 

"I don't blame you..." Darla whispered back. 

Moses then left for a moment.

"Darla!" Myrtle stormed over as Yuki, Teresa, and Elena followed like her own personal posse. "WHAT are you doing!?"

"Being nice to Lilo and not calling her a mean name." Darla told her.

"Why?" Myrtle glared. "She's weird!"

"Yeeeaaahhh...." Yuki, Teresa, and Elena agreed.

"You should hang out with us, Darla," Myrtle encouraged. "We're normal and cool, we were gonna go to my house after class and play dolls."

"Well, I'm sorry, Myrtle, but I don't play with anyone that's mean to people, even if they might be weird," Darla said before looking to Lilo. "No offense."

"None taken." Lilo shrugged.

Myrtle frowned firmly to that. "Well, I guess you just lost some real new friends..."

"Yeeeaaah!" Yuki, Teresa, and Elena said what they said again and together.

"Is that all you three ever say after she's done talking?" Darla asked.

Yuki, Teresa, and Elena looked to each other then, not saying anything then.

"You wanna be my friend?" Lilo asked, a little surprised.

"Sure!" Darla smiled. "Never be ashamed to be your true self no matter what... I certainly didn't."

"Wow, thanks." Lilo smiled.

Darla smiled back, she now made a friend, who felt more true than the other girls.

"You owe me..." Cherry said to Atticus since she had to track down this girl in particular.

The rehearsals started again, and after a little while, the girls had their casual clothes back on and Lilo wore a red mumu with white flowers and black sandals. She had to sit outside and the other girls then took out their dolls and ran out once class was over. Darla walked up to Lilo and sat next to her.

"She's really evolved since your family adopted her." Cherry said to Atticus.

"Yeah... I'm really proud of her..." Atticus agreed. 

"Me too." Patch smiled as Darla stayed with Lilo as the other girls left.

"Cool, you have a talking dog?" Lilo smiled as soon as she overheard the Dalmatian talk.

"Oops..." Patch cupped his muzzle with his paw.

"Patch is a very special dog." Darla said. 

"Wow..." Lilo smiled. "I wish I had a pet."

Moses then came out and looked down to them all, but mostly to Lilo. "I called your sister," he informed. "She said to wait for her here on the porch. We'll try again on Sunday." he then went back indoors since classes were over for the day.

"Why aren't your parents picking you up?" Darla asked.

Lilo silently glanced to her, not answering that question, then saw the other girls and really wanted to talk with them once she saw they had their dolls out. She then made her way over. Darla shrugged, then decided to maybe do the same.

"Does this look infected to you?" Myrtle asked, looking at her arm again.

"Yeah..." Teresa winced.

Suddenly, the girls then turned to see Lilo with Darla coming behind.

"You two better not have rabies." Myrtle glared.

"If you have rabies, then the dog-catcher's gonna have to cut off your--" Yuki was about to advise.

"Are you gonna play dolls?" Lilo asked.

The girls glanced at her and hid their dolls behind their backs.

"You don't have a doll." Myrtle scoffed.

"Do you?" Darla asked Lilo.

Lilo reached into her bag and took out a different kind of doll. It was sickly green and had a large head with button eyes, stitched mouth, and a ribbon tied around the yarn hair. "This is Scrump."

The other girls recoiled in instant horror and alarm.

"I made her," Lilo explained. "But her head is too big, so I pretend a bug laid eggs in her ears, and she's upset because she only has a few more days to..." she then looked to see Myrtle and the others abandoned her, but Darla stayed right by her side like a true friend.

"I think your doll is really cool and cute." Darla smiled.

"Y-You do...?" Lilo asked as she looked like she was about to throw her doll in the ground.

"She's special to you and I think that's a special name..." Darla said. "'Scrump'."

Lilo had a small smile, then looked to the school as no one came for her yet. "I'm just gonna go home... I don't think I can wait for Nani..."

"I'm sure she's on her way." Darla told her.

"I don't know..." Lilo muttered, then walked away, carrying her doll without even saying goodbye.

Darla wanted to stop her, but wasn't sure if she should or not.

"Darla, that was very nice of what you did for Lilo." Patch told the blonde girl.

"It was the least I could do, besides, she seems like she could use a friend." Darla said.

"Good girl." Patch smiled.

Darla smiled back, hugging the Dalmatian puppy.

"We should meet Mom back at the hotel," Atticus said. "Hope she's okay."

"I didn't see your mom at the beach earlier, despite her telling us she would be there..." Cherry said.

"She must be in the ocean." Atticus said.

"Hopefully she comes inside soon, I heard it's gonna rain later tonight." Cherry said as she took out her room key.

"I'm sure she will." Patch said.

Cherry, Atticus, Darla, and Patch then walked off.

"So, did you enjoy hula class?" Atticus asked his younger sister.

"Would've been more fun if it wasn't for those spoilsports..." Darla replied as she watched her feet since she was walking up a small walkway above the path.

"Yeah, I guess those mean girls did ruin it a little." Atticus said.

"Yeah.." Darla pouted.

"Well, remember, if you stand up to bullies, they almost always stand down," Atticus advised. "Dad taught me that."

"I'll take your word for it." Darla smiled.

"Great." Patch smiled.

They were now passing the beach as a large man in sunburn was about to have his ice cream, but it fell on the sand before he could have a taste of it. A wave crashed by, but not in a dangerous way, Emily had a tail fin for a brief moment, then her lower half glowed and her legs returned. 

"That was a great swim." Emily smiled.

"Hey, Mom." Atticus and Darla smiled back.

"Oh, hi, kids," Emily beamed. "Did you guys have fun?"

"Yep, well, besides three of the girls in hula class being mean to Lilo." Darla told her.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that..." Emily said. "Who's Lilo?"

"My new friend," Darla replied. "The other girls thought she was weird, but I liked her."

"Well, I'm happy to know that you made a friend here." Emily smiled at her youngest adopted daughter.

"I'm happy too." Darla gave her a hug.

"And how was your swim, Mom?" Atticus asked.

"Just wonderful..." Emily said as they decided to walk back to the hotel. "I saw the strangest thing though, this fish had a peanut butter sandwich in its mouth."

"That must have been Pudge, the fish Lilo fed." Darla said.

"I think that's what he said his name was..." Emily said. "Kinda hard to understand him since he had peanut butter in his mouth."

"And she said that Pudge controls the weather." Darla said.

"That's what I heard..." Emily said.

"A fish controlling the weather?" Cherry asked.

"That's what the others were saying under the sea," Emily said. "Since this Lilo gives Pudge something he likes from the human world, he decides to reward her."

"So then, he's going to make it rain?" Patch asked.

"I heard that it is going to rain later tonight, but it'll be a light shower, not like a storm or anything like that." Emily smiled.

"Whew." Atticus sighed out of relief.

"It's all right, Atticus," Emily smiled soothingly. "Just a light shower, it might get heavy overnight, but there shouldn't be too loud of thunder booms."

"I like the sound of that." Patch said.

"Well, then, shall we get back to the room?" Atticus asked.

"Yeah," Emily said as she saw the hotel come into view. "I hope it's okay, but I'm going to order us room service, it was exhausting coming here and we all already spent a day with our vacation."

"Understood, Mom." Atticus said.

"Yeah, that's fine with me. "Cherry added.

"I'm gonna be out for a little bit more." Patch said.

"Just don't forget your tags." Emily reminded.

"Right." Patch nodded. He then went off on his own.

Atticus, Cherry, Darla, and Emily waved, then went to the Bird's of Paradise Hotel.

They came into their room and ordered room service which would be free for them since Cherry won the contest that gave them that special room.

Darla decided to practice some hula dancing since she was a student now. "Practice makes perfect." she smiled to herself. 

"That it does, dear," Emily smiled. "I wonder where Patch is going."

"Probably just exploring." Atticus said.

Emily ordered room service. Cherry stared out as there were storm clouds moving in, making it instantly dark even though it was only just the early afternoon.


	5. Chapter 5

Patch went around the tropical islands. He then suddenly saw something crash down from the sky.

"What on Earth is that!?" Patch's eyes widened.

The something was coming closer and closer. Patch ran off before he could get struck by whatever was falling in the sudden cool crisp night. And where luckily it missed him.

"Whew, that was close," Patch sighed. He then looked, wiping his head with his paw. "What was that anyway?"

A green glow seemed to fill the air, but smoke came out from behind rocks. There came a tiny creature who then emerged from the rocks and laughed maniacally. 

Patch glared, then growled, storming over. "I'm not afraid of you, come on out and fight like a dog!"

But to his surprise, it didn't look like a dog at all, the creature actually looked like the alien in his dream.

"Experiment 626!" Patch remembered from his super freaky share dream with Atticus.

The creature hopped out, showing it had four arms, blue fur, spikes on its back with antennae and appeared to have a red uniform on. He snarled and spoke to Patch, using an alien language that could not possibly be understood by Earth life.

"Sorry, I can't understand what you're saying." Patch said before his Equestrian medallion/Pound Puppy tag glowed, giving him the ability to understand what the alien would say.

Experiment 626 kept snarling and speaking, but after a moment, his words became clear and could be deciphered for the Dalmatian puppy. "Take me to your leader or be destroyed, vermin!"

"Okay, first, no! And second, why the heck are you here?!" Patch asked.

"Leader! Now!" Experiment 626 took out plasma guns in his hands.

"Whoa!" Patch jumped back. 

"Tell me where I am, you infidel..." Experiment 626 narrowed his eyes.

"You're in Hawaii, a country on the Planet Earth." Patch told him.

"Ee-Arth...?" Experiment 626 asked. "Hawaii...? What galaxy is this?"

Suddenly a raindrop fell one way.

"What was that!?" Experiment 626 shot the road one way.

Another drop fell the other way.

"What was that!?" Experiment 626 then shot the other way. 

Another drop then fell on the extraterrestrial's head.

"WHAT SORCERY IS THIS!?" Experiment 626 then pointed his gun up and then shot the sky, which then made raindrops fall like a small shower as predicted earlier by the weather. "Oh, I believe I've angered it."

"No, no, no, no, this is just rain, moisture from the clouds in the sky." Patch told him.

"What is this 'rain' you speak of?" Experiment 626 snarled.

A frog then croaked next to them.

"And who are you!?" Experiment 626 pointed his weapons to the innocent amphibian, trying to make it speak with him like the puppy did. "Some second-in-command? Surrender now or FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" 

There was a horn blare heard.

"RUN!" Patch yelped as he saw a large truck coming.

"Surrender!" Experiment 626 held up his guns, but got hit by the truck and was getting mangled by the large tires, but didn't seem to be dead or killed in any way.

"Are you okay?" Patch asked out of concern.

The alien groaned, looking a little beat up, but seemed to somehow still be alive.

"He must be indestructible..." Patch said to himself as he came to see the illegal genetic mutation.

The drivers stopped their truck and were about to come out to see what they hit. Patch came over to the knocked out alien and kept him company, even if he threatened the teenage dog, the alien still needed someone to be with in this strange new place. Three men came out to see what they hit as it lightly rained.

"What did we hit?" one man asked.

Patch began to get the alien out from under the truck. The three men came over, shining a flashlight in that direction.

Patch looked down to the alien as its uniform was ripped off from the rough and bouncing tires, but it was still breathing and alive. "Good, you didn't die..." he was glad, not sure if he could've handle it if the creature ended up dead.

"We better call somebody." The second man said.

The alien's arms twitched slightly. The three men decided to call the pet shelter and let them handle the alien.

"Oh, what do I do?" Patch mumbled to himself as the humans seemed to had mistaken this alien creature for a domesticated animal kept as a pet.

"Allow the men to take him to the pet shelter, he was actually destined to be here." A female voice told him.

"Huh?" Patch looked around, then hid away before he could be taken away despite already having a home. "Who said that?"

"Fear not, little one, I believe you already know me." The female voice smiled before appearing as a pink dog from Heaven above.

Patch looked up with glowing eyes. "Annabelle, is it?"

"Indeed, now you must stay close to him and where you know what that means." Annabelle said.

"I have to go with him to the pet shelter, right?" Patch asked.

"Yes, but don't worry..." Annabelle soothed in her obvious angelic tone of voice. "I promise you'll still be able to live with Atticus and the Fudos... I knew from the moment you were born that you would be a perfect match for him."

"Well... Thank you..." Patch smiled, then frowned a little. "Lucky and Flo really miss Charlie."

"He misses them too, my child..." Annabelle replied. "Especially your old Puppy School teacher, Itchiford."

"I hope to see him again, well, actually, I hope to see both of them again." Patch said.

"Perhaps you will someday, Patch..." Annabelle smiled. "Now, go... Go help your special and unique friend." 

"You got it." Patch smiled before going off to join his alien friend in the pet shelter.

Back at the hotel, Atticus was getting worried, not because of the rain, but because of Patch. 

"He's been gone a while now..." Atticus said once he finished brushing his teeth and was now getting set for bed. 

"I'm sure he's okay, dear..." Emily soothed as she tucked Darla in for the night. 

"I know, but he should have been back by now." Atticus said.

"It's okay..." Emily cooed. "Patch is a smart dog... He'll find his way back before it gets too late..."

"I hope you're right, Mom..." Atticus yawned as he bundled down into the bed. 

Emily smiled as her son went to sleep. She then turned out the light and went to sleep in her seperate room in the suite, gently shutting the door behind her.

"Please be alright, Patch." Atticus said before going to sleep entirely.

Cherry lightly snored in her sleep.

The next day, Atticus was shocked to see Patch was still not back from his walk.

"Hula Class today?" Emily asked her adoptive daughter.

"Not that I'm aware of." Darla replied.

Atticus shook Cherry awake.

Cherry glared up at him. "This better be good..." 

"Patch didn't come back last night, I think he's in danger." Atticus said.

"Atticus, it's Patch, thanks to you, he's not a normal puppy..." Cherry mumbled. 

"I know, but I'm his owner and I have a right to worry about him." Atticus said.

"Guess I never understood that worry since I never really had a pet myself..." Cherry said as she still had only one eye open.

"There's a luau tonight," Emily said. "Would you kids like to go?" 

"We'd love to, Mom, but I really have to go out and find Patch." Atticus said.

"I should go with him..." Darla suggested. "Patch is family.

"Cherry, are you gonna go with them too?" Emily asked.

"I may not be apart of this family, but I've known Atticus longer than all of you..." Cherry said, even if she still had that look on her face as she was comfortable in the bed, but was going to go along too if she needed to. 

"Well, be sure to not speak to any strangers." Emily said.

"We won't." Atticus and Darla promised.

"All righty..." Cherry said, getting out of bed. "Let's go find a puppy."

After getting dressed and a quick breakfast, they moved out.


	6. Chapter 6

There was a human boy with longish blonde hair with copper brown eyes in a green shirt, white shorts, and black sandals. "Hey, Curly Q."

Darla glanced up at this boy, then did a double take seeing how much he looked like a special somebody she knew. "Uh, I'm too busy to talk right now... Enjoy your tour with the family."

"Aw, but don't ya miss me, Goldilocks?" the boy came behind her with a smirk and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. 

"Wait... Urchin?" Darla asked.

Urchin grinned with a cocky look in his eyes.

"Oh, that's you all right." Darla smirked, putting her hands on her hips. "What're you doing on dry land?"

"Emily told me you guys were visiting Hawaii," Urchin folded his arms with a smirk back to her. "Thought I'd stop by and check on ya." 

"Are you sure that it's not because you missed me too?" Darla smirked.

Urchin's eyes widened. "What? Huh? Who?"

Darla put her hand to her mouth with a small laugh.

"Ah, don't flatter yourself..." Urchin scoffed. "So, where're we goin'?"

"Patch is missing..." Darla said. "Atticus is worried..." 

"I'm sure he's alright." Urchin said.

"Oh, there's a special bond between a boy and his dog..." Darla said. 

"I guess..." Urchin shrugged. "I'll help though if you want me to."

Darla smiled at that.

"Dimples!" Cherry called, then came over behind the blonde girl. "Oh, there you are." 

"Hey, Cherry, look who came to dry land?" Darla smiled.

Cherry looked. "Uhh..."

"Urchin." the blonde boy said his name, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Oh, yeah..." Cherry folded her arms. "Dimple's boyfriend."

"We're just friends, Cherry..." Darla said through her teeth.

"If you say so..." Cherry rolled her eyes with a smirk. 

"Uh, girls, I think I found Patch!" Atticus called out.

Cherry and Darla looked over.

"That was fast..." Urchin said, then shrugged. "Then again, Ariel said he's a detective."

They then rushed over to Atticus to find out what he was going on about. And where they saw that he saw Patch inside pet shelter.

"Why haven't they put him in a cage yet?" Urchin asked.

"Beats me." Darla shrugged.

"Patch!" Atticus whispered loudly. "Paaaatch!" 

Patch was picked up by a lady at the front desk and brought to the back.

"Hey, that's my puppy!" Atticus pouted, then rushed into the animal shelter.

"Don't worry, little guy..." the woman told Patch as she carefully carried him in her arms. "I'm sure you'll be adopted in no time, little boys and girls just eat of your hands... Or in your case, paws..." 

Patch nodded before looking for his alien friend.

"Let's put you in here with some new friends, huh?" the lady smiled, placing Patch into one of the placements. She then pet him on the head gently, then walked off.

"Experiment 626?" Patch looked around, then looked down. "Oh, there you are..."

"Ugh..." the blue creature mumbled. "My head..." 

"Oh, thank goodness you're fine." Patch sighed.

"What happened...?" The alien mumbled, then saw the other canines.

They all huddled up in a corner, shivering and whimpering in fear of their 'new friend'.

"You there!" Experiment 626 glared at them, trying to use his guns, but saw he didn't have them. "Where are my...?" he then turned to Patch. "Cover me! You're my new general!" he then glared the other dogs. "You are all under my arrest, I claim this planet in the name of Turo!"

"Okay, one, you're not armed and two, what's Planet Turo?" Patch asked.

"Planet Turo is my home world," Experiment 626 told the Earth puppy. "I escaped after the imprisonment of my creator Dr. Jumba Jookiba."

"By any chance, is he fat and has four eyes?" Patch asked.

"Yes," Experiment 626 nodded. "I'm certain he could in this world..." he then lifted his ear as he heard something. "Cover me." he then dashed off.

Patch, though had a dog and had special hearing, did not hear what this alien did and was very curious.

"Wait, that Dalmatian I just put in the back with the other dogs is your pet?" The lady behind the desk asked Atticus.

"Yes, ma'am," Atticus replied. "I'm so sorry, he must've gotten lost by accident."

"You should've kept him on a leash." the lady warned, slightly strict, but not being mean in any way.

"Yes, ma'am," Atticus understood. "I assure you, it won't happen again."

"Well, I'm sure it won't, but still..." The lady said before seeing two more people come inside as well. "Oh, excuse me... Let me get your puppy, I will be right back..." she said before doing that, then looked over to the next two people. "I'll be right with you folks, I just have to fix something real quick."

"Take your time." an older female voice said.

Darla turned her head, then her eyes lit up once she saw someone she recognized. "Lilo!"

"Darla, what are you doing here?" Lilo asked.

"I could ask you the same thing..." Darla said as she stood next to Urchin. "Patch got lost, we're taking him home now."

"Nani's taking me to get a new friend." Lilo then explained why she was at the animal shelter.

"Nani?" Darla looked up, then saw a young adult woman who looked a lot like a grown-up version of Lilo stand next to her new friend.

"Oh, aloha." the stranger waved to her.

"Aloha, so you're Nani." Darla smiled.

"Yes," Nani smiled. "I'm Lilo's sister."

The lady brought Patch back to Atticus. Atticus laughed a little as Patch licked his face with a smile.

"Atticus, we have to stay here a little while longer just until you meet my new friend." Patch whispered to his owner before hearing something crawling on the ceiling, thanks to his dog hearing.

"Okay..." Atticus whispered back to him, turning away so it wouldn't look weird for him to talk with his dog this way.

Patch glanced up as he could see Experiment 626 crawling on the ceiling.

"We're looking for someone that can defend itself," Nani told the lady behind her desk. "Something that won't die... Something... Sturdy... You know?"

Urchin whispered something into Lilo's ear.

"Like a lobster!" Lilo then chimed in.

"Why a lobster?" Cherry asked

Urchin chuckled.

Lilo, you lolo?" Nani bent down to her younger sister and put her hands on her shoulders. "Do we have a lobster door? No, we have a dog door, we are getting a dog!"

"Shh." Patch told Atticus as the front door opened up, but no one appeared to be there and he looked up to see his alien friend on the ceiling as he was on his way back into the kennel. 

"We need your name and address at the bottom of the form--" the lady started to explain until she, Lilo, Nani, Cherry, Urchin, and Darla looked to the door, but saw no one there.

"That was weird." Darla said.

"The kennel's back this way." the lady allowed Lilo to come in the back to adopt the newest member of her family. 

"Go," Nani encouraged Lilo. "Go pick someone out."

Lilo looked nervous to go alone, then looked over to Darla. "Can someone come with me?"

"I'll come with you." Darla smiled.

"So will me and Patch." Atticus said.

"I'll just sit here and stare at the wall..." Cherry mumbled with a shrug.

Lilo glanced at Cherry. "She's an interesting case... I'll have to work on her..."

"I've been trying to figure her out." Atticus said.

The ones going were now in the kennel, but it appeared to be empty.

"Hello...?" Lilo called. "Hello?! Are there any 'aminals' in here?"

The dogs that were in the kennel were hiding from the alien.

Lilo and the others kept trying to find a pet, but couldn't find any.

Patch turned to his blue friend and nudged his head forward. "If you stay with Lilo, whoever's after you should leave you alone..." he whispered a suggestion. 

"But... I look so different from your species..." the alien replied. "How will I blend in to this culture?"

"Well, for one thing, you could try to hide your extra features." Patch said.

"Hmm..." Experiment 626 said, looking to him and saw an adoption promotional poster of a child hugging a pet dog, giving him an idea. "Stay here a moment..." 

Patch nodded, deciding to stay put for him.

"Hmm..." 626 focused on Patch, then stood up on his legs, making his extra arms bulge into his body, his back spikes pushed into his back, and his antennas sunk into his head. "Well, how do I look?"

"You look like a unique, never before seen, new breed kind of dog." Patch smiled.

"That better be a compliment..." 626 narrowed his eyes. "Help me to the one who seeks a companion."

"Right this way." Patch turned to lead the way.

Lilo kept looking with Darla until suddenly, Patch came back to Atticus and 626 rushed over to Lilo, waving his stumped tiny round tail with a small smile to look like a true pet creature of this planet.

Lilo nervously turned to 626 and slowly waved. "Hi..."

"Oh... Uhh..." 626 stood up on his legs, holding out one of his hands and forced a smile which showed his yellow tiny fangs which looked like they couldn't bite much. "Hiiiiii...." he said, and that time, not only Patch could understand him and he gave Lilo a tight hug.

"Wow!" Lilo felt amazed.

This caused Patch to face-paw, remembering he forgot to tell his alien friend that dogs can't talk to humans or any animals can talk to humans just to not freak them out. At least Lilo took it well. Darla and Atticus glanced to each other, curious and slightly confused. Lilo decided to take 626 back to the main room to show the lady and her sister.

"Okay, that creature is not a dog, what is it?" Atticus whispered to Patch.

"What do you mean?" Patch asked innocently.

"Patch, you and I both know that is not a dog." Atticus said.

"He's undercover." Patch replied.

"So... What is he?" Atticus asked. "Some dingo?"

"He's an alien," Patch explained. "That dream we had was a sign, he's from the Planet Turo and he's escaped after his creator's arrest."

"So, let me guess, we're gonna have to make sure he behaves, right?" Atticus asked.

"He's laying low," Patch said. "I promise, I'll make it all up to you."

"Hmm... Well, all right..." Atticus gave in.

"Oh, yes, mm-hmm," the animal shelter lady told Nani as Lilo was coming out with Experiment 626 in disguise. "All of our dogs are adoptable..." she then looked to see the blue creature which made her recoil in horror. "EXCEPT THAT ONE!"

"This could be a problem." Patch whispered.

Nani held her sister back as the lady held Experiment 626 back. "What is that thing!?"

"A dog, I think!" the lady replied. "But it was dead this morning!"

"It was dead this morning?!" Nani asked, confused and alarmed.

"Well, we thought it was dead, it was hit by a truck!" the lady explained the best that she could.

"I like him!" Lilo smiled up to Nani, then held out her arms. "Come 'ere, boy!"

Experiment 626 then tried to walk out of the lady's hold over to Lilo.

"I think he likes you too." Atticus said.

"He's certainly, uh, special..." Darla smiled, unsure what to say.

"Specially defected." Urchin whispered.

Darla then nudged him to silence him, then looked back with a reassuring smile. Urchin winced, holding his arm and lightly glaring down to Darla.

"Wouldn't you like a different dog?" Nani asked her sister.

"We have better dogs, dear..." the lady said as she held 626 up in her arms.

"Not better than him, he can talk!" Lilo beamed. "Say hello!"

626 then tried to say hello to her again. Patch began to make signs, telling the alien not to talk.

"Dogs can't talk, dear." the lady told Lilo which made the creature stare at her.

"He did..." Lilo insisted. 

Atticus and Darla didn't say anything, unsure whether to or not, so just kept silent.

"Does it have to be this dog?" Nani asked, wearily.

The alien then stuck out its tongue and started to lick one nostril and ate it, smacking his lips.

"Yeah, he's good, I can tell." Lilo accepted.

Patch sighed out of relief, relieved that his alien friend didn't reveal he could actually talk.

The animal shelter lady was filling out an adoption paper as the alien stared out the window, looking for something... Or rather, someone. "You'll have to give him a name." she informed the little Hawaiian girl.

"His name is..." Lilo replied, thinking about it a moment, then stated the name once she found the perfect one for her new pet. "Stitch."

"Now, that's not a real name." the lady glared at Lilo, almost like she thought it was a dumb name to give an animal.

Nani, Atticus, and Darla began to give her the sign to not say that to the little girl.

"In... Iceland..." the lady then said and forced a smile. "But here, it's a good name! Stitch it is..."

Lilo smiled and looked back to her new pet as he stood on top of a chair to look out.

"So, let me guess, he's out there, right?" Patch whispered to his alien friend.

This caused for the alien now named Stitch to nod. Patch came up on the chair next to him to look with him to help.

"And there's a two dollar license fee." the lady told Nani.

Nani then handed two dollars.

"I wanna buy him!" Lilo told her sister. "Can I borrow two dollars?"

Nani took the dollars back and handed them to Lilo. Lilo then pushed them against Nani. Nani took the dollars then and handed them to the lady again.

"He's all yours." the lady told Lilo after stamping the paper.

"He's out there somewhere." Stitch told his first Earth friend.

"I'll help you." Patch promised.

"You can be my first general." Stitch approved.

"Um, okay, sir." Patch said, not wanting to anger his friend.

"How good is his hearing?" An unfamiliar voice to Patch whispered.

Stitch then instantly turned which made Patch wonder if he heard something. Patch gently pushed the door open and had Stitch come out with him. There was a glowing red dot on Stitch's belly which made Stitch look up and droop his ears. Patch looked where Stitch was looking. They both looked to see what Patch and Atticus had seen in their dream.

"Why don't you run?" the fat alien with four eyes glared to the tiny blue alien. 

"Bark," Patch told Stitch. "Bark!"

Stitch then got on all fours and barked the best he could.

"Coming!" Lilo ran over to hug him. "I'm coming!"

"What's going on out here?" Atticus asked, coming out as well.

"Guys...?" Cherry walked out.

Suddenly a laser blast was shot which just missed her.

"What the!?" Cherry yelped.

"What was that?" Atticus asked.

"Stitch's creator." Patch whispered to his owner.

"Ah." Atticus nodded then.

"THIS IS LOW EVEN FOR YOU!" a voice yelled.

Lilo looked around to find the source, but was unable to.

"Whoo-hoo!" Stitch mooned his creator from high up above.

"Maybe that isn't a wise thing to do." Patch whispered to Stitch.

"They shouldn't attack as long as I'm with this Earth creature." Stitch whispered back, referring to Lilo.

Jumba and the noodly alien were coming down.

Stitch snarled. "No! Stay back! I have protection!" he then tried barking like Patch suggested.

"What is it, Stitch?" Lilo frowned.

"Oh, I'm sure he's just excited." Atticus smiled nervously.

The lady came out with Nani, then squirted Stitch with a spray bottle for disobedient animals. "Bad dog, barking at nothing!"

Stitch shuddered from the water and had a very negative reaction.

"Stay calm, it's just water." Patch whispered to him.

"Uh, congratulations on your new pet, Lilo." Darla told her new friend.

"Mahalo," Lilo thanked with a smile. "I wonder if Myrtle and the other girls would like him."

"Hmm..." Darla merely hummed.

"I still think she'd be better off with a lobster." Urchin shrugged with his hands in his shorts pockets.

"Well, suck it up, she got a dog," Cherry told him. She then took a closer look at Stitch, noticing he didn't look like any dog she had ever seen. "...I think..."

"I wouldn't want a dog..." Urchin huffed.

"Oh, and let's say you and I grew up and got married," Darla glanced at him with her hands on her hips. "If our child wanted a pet, what would you give them?"

Urchin paused to think about it, then smirked once he had an idea. "A turtle."

"And what if our child wanted something different?" Darla asked.

"Then a dog..." Urchin shrugged. "Maybe a dog and a turtle."

"That's ridiculous..." Cherry said. "Who would want a dog and a turtle?"

"Apparently any child Goldilocks and I have..." Urchin shrugged with a smirk.

"Yeah, like that will ever happen." Darla said.

"Yeah... They'd probably be a brat like you..." Urchin teased.

Darla stuck her tongue out at him, glaring her sapphire eyes. Urchin stuck his tongue out back, though crossed his copper eyes. Atticus sighed and shook his head at the two.

"Those two are so meant for each other." Patch whispered.

"Mm-hmm..." Cherry nodded once.

"So, um, Lilo, why don't we go and take Stitch for his first walk through town?" Darla asked.

'Oh, now that you mention that, I have to get to work," Nani said, then looked to Atticus since he was the oldest. "Um, I know this is sudden, but would you mind watching Lilo and Stitch for me? I work at the luau, when the time comes tonight, you can bring them back and I'll take them home with me when I get off my shift."

"No need to say another word." Atticus smiled.

"Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me," Nani smiled in relief. "I'll be able to give her lunch, but until 6:00 tonight, I'll be at work."


	7. Chapter 7

They walked closer into town and Nani was giving Lilo instructions of how to behave while she would be gone. Stitch looked at the TVs for sale on display and seemed to love what was happening about a monster invading innocent people and stomped around like a monster and even snarled in his own personal amusement. Patch seemed to sigh while shaking his head, knowing that Stitch would be a lot of work.

"Okay, I guess I should be going." Nani told her younger sister before blowing a raspberry against her cheek.

Lilo giggled, then pointed to her pet to include him on this. "What about Stitch?"

Nani shuddered in disgust and went off to work. "Mahalo plenty, Atticus!" she then called out as she was on her way to work.

"See ya tonight at the luau!" Atticus called back to her.

"You can count on it!" Nani replied as she took her leave.

"Lilo, why can't your parents watch you?" Darla asked.

"Well... You see..." Lilo was about to explain, but she looked over a little and got distracted once she saw three familiar girls on their bikes and she gasped in delight. "My friends!" she then ran over.

The three girls saw Lilo and tried to bike away from her, but they were trapped.

"What do you want?" Myrtle sneered.

"I'm sorry I bit you, and punched you in the face, and pulled on your hair." Lilo apologized.

"Apology not accepted," Myrtle huffed. "Now get out of my way before I run you over with that hasbeen friend of yours!" She then added, referring to Darla when she said 'hasbeen friend'.

Stitch then came over which made Myrtle, Yuki, and Teresa recoil in horror again.

"I got a new dog," Lilo smiled and introduced. "His name is Stitch."

"That is the ugliest thing I ever saw." Myrtle spat.

"Yeeeaaaahhhh!" Yuki and Teresa agreed.

"Seriously?" Darla asked. "Don't you girls ever say anything else besides 'Yeeeaaaahhhh' after she speaks?"

Yuki and Teresa looked to each other in silence, then back, but said nothing else. Stitch sniffed Myrtle and glared to her.

"Ew, get it away from me!" Myrtle flinched, trying to get away from the 'dog'. "I'm gonna get a disease!"

"Uh-Oh, Stitch, we have company." Patch whispered to his alien friend once he saw the two other aliens in their disguises.

Stitch looked and noticed as Myrtle was wussing out. He then took Lilo with him and rode away on Myrtle's bike.

Myrtle whined and cried like a baby. "Somebody do something!"

Patch smiled even what Stitch did was a little rough and decided to taunt and make fun of the two disguised aliens.

"Oh, great, he's loose!" the one-eyed alien disguised as a woman groaned.

"His destructive programming is taking effect," the fat alien with four eyes replied. "He will be irresistibly drawn to large cities, where he will back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal everyone's left shoe."

Patch continued to taunt and made fun of the two aliens.

"And that creature is making fun of us, it seems..." the one-eyed alien said.

"What is it?" the four-eyed alien asked.

"That's an.,.. Umm... I forget..." the one-eyed alien muttered.

"Some Earth expect!" the four-eyed alien scoffed.

Patch then decided to go and deal some pain to the creator for trying to capture his new friend, even if it would surprise anyone around him.

"Shoo! Shoo! Going away, filthy creature!" Jumba demanded.

"Don't hurt it!" the one-eyed alien warned. "It might be food for the endangered mosquito species!"

Patch began to lift up the four-eyed alien and began to make him hit the ground a couple of times before spinning him around, sending him flying to a tree. The one-eyed alien blinked twice, then screamed and ran away before Patch could come anywhere near him.

"That'll teach them." Patch snorted. He then came back over to Atticus, Darla, Cherry, and Urchin.

"Uh, so how long are you human for?" Darla asked.

"Three days," Urchin replied. "Emily talked with Triton and made a deal for me so it won't end up like that mess with Ursula."

"Well, that's kind of a relief." Darla said.

"You're telling me." Atticus said.

"Yeah, so I can pal around with Goldilocks a little bit." Urchin smirked, putting the blonde girl into a headlock.

"Hey!" Darla yelped. "You can't hurt me, I'm a girl!"

"Yeah, yeah." Urchin groaned.

Darla got free and straightened out her neck, then saw that Myrtle left with Yuki and Teresa. She then sighed. "Typical... Somehow, I feel more there's to Yuki, Teresa, and Elena than just agreeing and copying Myrtle all the time."

"Same here." Urchin said.

A little while later, Lilo took her pet and new friends to the beach. Lilo was trying to teach Stitch how to fetch, she threw a stick and waited for him to chase it and bring it back to her. Stitch glanced at her, but scanned the beach for the alien bounty hunters who were after him and didn't see a point in retrieving the stick. Patch began to whisper to his alien friend of why he needed to retrieve the stick.

Stitch glanced at him, but then flinched as Lilo squirted water at him for misbehaving. Lilo glared, continuing to squirt the water until he would do what she wanted him to do. Stitch then grabbed the bottle and threw it and glared to her. Lilo glared back, then went after it, which satisfied Stitch. Patch gave his friend a disappointed look.

"That's what she wanted." Stitch defended.

"Not exactly..." Patch face-pawed again.

"This dog stuff is harder than it looks." Stitch groaned.

"You'll get used to it..." Patch sighed. "My brothers Lucky and Rolly and sister Cadpig are friends with a chicken who wants to be a dog."

"What's a chicken?" Stitch asked.

"Uh, it's this bird that you can eat..." Patch explained the best he could. "Um... That sounds unusual..."

"I have a lot to learn about this planet." Stitch said.

"Yes, yes, you do..." Patch sighed.

A volleyball rolled over to Stitch.

"Hey, over here, little buddy!" a man in beach shorts and dreadlocks walked over for his ball.

Stitch grabbed the ball and threw it right at the man's face, making him fall in the sand in annoyance and slight pain. The alien just laughed at his misery.

"Stitch, don't do that, that's mean." Patch told him.

"It's funny." Stitch insisted.

"Why am I here again?" Cherry muttered as she sat underneath an umbrella.

"Because you won that contest." Atticus said.

"Yeah, yeah..." Cherry curved her face slightly.

Urchin kept tugging on Darla's hair with a smirk.

"Quit it!" Darla glared.

"Nope." Urchin smirked as he continued.

"Ugh..." Darla groaned, then remembered something Emily told her about boys teasing girls out of premature love. "Uh, Urchin... Do you have a girlfriend or anything like that in Atlantica?"

"What? No, I don't." Urchin said.

"Interesting..." Darla said.

"There was this mermaid Gabriella around, but I wasn't too crazy about her..." Urchin then said with a shrug. "She seemed to like me though."

"Like you like you or like you as a friend?" Darla asked.

"It was hard to say, honestly..." Urchin shrugged.

"Well, what did she tell you?" Darla asked.

Urchin looked back. "Actually, she was deaf."

"Deaf?" Darla asked.

"She couldn't hear or talk on her own," Urchin explained. "She talked with sign language. She had this pet octopus who would speak for her whenever we would all hang out... I think she liked me liked me, but I just never felt the same way, I always felt like my special someone was out there and I had to find for her on my own."

"Awww!" Darla smiled.

"Hey, I got a heart, Goldilocks." Urchin smirked with his hand on his hip and a thumb pointing up to him.

"I guess you do..." Darla rolled her eyes. "I have one too."

"I was just alone before I met Ariel..." Urchin sighed as he looked out to the ocean. "I lost my parents when I was really young and I was just struggling to find a life for myself while trying to survive..."

"In a way, I know what you mean." Darla said. "Though, I had someone to take me in, he just treated me more like an employee than his own daughter... He just... Shut me out."

"Wow, that sounds rough." Urchin said.

"Tell me about it..." Darla pouted. "I was just a little girl, the age of four... I lost my parents and my sister ended up in a coma after the accident... I don't even know where I came from... The next thing I knew I was surrounded by lights, camera, and action, with thousands of people adoring me, but all I ever really wanted was someone there by my side."

"If I lived on land, I would have stayed by your side." Urchin said.

"If I lived under the sea, I would have stood by your side." Darla said then.

The two then smiled to each other and not in a joking or teasing way, they were true serene and sincere smiles. Atticus waved his right hand in front them both, having no affect.

"You okay?" Cherry asked as Lilo and Stitch wandered around the beach, but Patch followed close to them so he could keep an eye on Stitch.

"I think I lost them." Atticus said as he couldn't get Darla or Urchin's attention.

"Ew... Kiddy love..." Cherry shuddered.

"It's young love." Atticus said.

"Still kiddy love..." Cherry stuck her tongue out. "Aren't those two technically cousins now?"

"Well, they first met before I suggested Uncle Triton adopt Urchin," Atticus explained. "So, they probably fell in love before that despite being family now... Besides, they're both orphans... Though not so much anymore..."

"They're an interesting couple..." Cherry shrugged.

"Yes, yes, they are." Atticus said.

"Meh..." Cherry shrugged. "As long as they aren't singing, I'm happy..."

"Okay, can I just say something crazy?" Darla asked the now temporarily human merboy.

"You're not crazy." Urchin told her.

"Oh, God, this is it..." Cherry moaned.

"All my life has been a series of doors~," Darla started to sing. "And then suddenly, I bump into you~"

"Here we go." Atticus groaned.

"I was thinking the same thing!" Urchin said to Darla before he started to sing. "'Cuz like, I've been searching my whole life to find the perfect place, And maybe it's the adrenaline talkin' or vacation vibes~..."

Darla giggled to that. "But with you~..."

"But with you~..." Urchin echoed. "I found my place~"

"I see your face~" Darla sang.

"And it's nothing like I've ever known before!~" Darla and Urchin sang together. "Love is an open door!"

Atticus brought out ear plugs. Cherry took them and looked relaxed then as Darla and Urchin spread their own little love fest together. Darla and Urchin ran off together, having their own little moment together, seeming to forget all about what was going on before or without them, but not even minding or caring.

"Why sing?" Atticus asked.

Cherry shrugged. Darla and Urchin were now lying in the sand together, side-by-side.

"Okay, can I say something crazy?" Urchin asked.

Darla giggled and nodded eagerly.

"Will you be my special somebody?" Urchin got on his knees next to her then.

"Can I say something even crazier?" Darla did the same, opposite side of him. "YES!"

Atticus and Cherry unplugged their ears once the song was done. Darla and Urchin were lost in their own little world still, but they had stopped their little duet.

After a little while, Nani met the others for lunch.

Stitch was about to touch the container to get food for himself.

Nani restrained him and waved her finger at him since dogs weren't allowed people food. "Ah, ah..."

"Huh?" Stitch blinked, then growled, wanting to hurt Nani for denying him food.

Patch stopped his friend from hurting her along with showing the two disguised aliens. Jumba and his companion chuckled, waving over. Stitch groaned and forced himself to hug Lilo since she seemed to be his only way of them not attacking him. Lilo bit into her sandwich and smiled down at her pet. Patch glared at the two disguised aliens, not liking them for trying to capture Stitch. The others had their lunch, but soon, Nani had to go back to work and they would all see her later tonight.

"Have you guys ever had Shave Ice?" Lilo asked as they decided to walk around town.

"No." Atticus said.

"Let's get you some then." Lilo smiled as she took out money from Nani.

They came into town and donned sunglasses, Lilo ordered enough Shave Ice for everybody, even Stitch. The man handed them their cones as Lilo carried two for her and Stitch as he was looking at postcards. Stitch stared at his, sniffing it, then rolling the treat against his tongue, not sure how to properly eat it.

"That's one way of doing it," Patch said. "Also, when I dog sniffs another dogs butt, it's a way to get to know you a little bit."

"Hm?" Stitch glanced at him, then suddenly felt another dog come up behind him and sniff him. "HEY!" he growled.

"Stitch, he just wants to-" Patch tried to explain.

Stitch slammed his Shave Ice on top of the dog and threw postcards at him. "That's not for you, get outta here!"

"Stitch, he was just sniffing your butt to get to know you better." Patch reminded him.

"He touched my-" Stitch said, then saw something. "SPACESHIP!" he then ran over to what was a space adventure ride and not a real ship, he climbed into it and tried to make it go. "Come on! Let me out of this nightmare!"

"Excuse me, guys, I think Stitch wants to have a ride." Lilo said as she took out her last quarter.

"Um, Stitch, that isn't a spaceship." Patch tried to tell his alien friend.

"Yes, it is!" Stitch growled. "It just won't move! MOVE!"

Lilo inserted the coin, then joined him. The ride then started up and slowly rocked them back and forth. Lilo giggled, having a lot of fun.

"Ugh..." Stitch groaned in defeat. "This planet's trying to kill me..."

"It's called a ride, this one is for little kids." Patch told him.

"Guhh..." Stitch groaned.

When you're ready to give up, just let us know, heh?" Jumba called as he sat with his companion with a teasing chuckle, but they kept their distance since Patch was there.

"Whee!" Lilo beamed as she had a lot of fun on the ride.

"Hopefully he can survive the rest of his life here." Patch whispered.

Darla and Urchin were sharing one Shave Ice together, becoming sickening sweethearts.

"I really hope they don't end up like Big Mac and Cheerilee with that love poison." Cherry said to Atticus.

"I highly doubt it." Atticus said.

"Let's just hope so..." Cherry shuddered. "Oh, that was so disgusting... 'Shmoopy Doopy'..."

"I know how you feel, what were the girls thinking? You can't force love." Atticus said.

"They're kids..." Cherry shrugged.

"Good point." Atticus said.


	8. Chapter 8

Soon, the ride ended and Lilo and Stitch joined the others. It looked like it was getting dark quickly.

"Lilo, is it time for the luau now?" Darla asked once she noticed that.

"Yeah, come with me." Lilo told them.

"Lead the way." Atticus smiled.

"Did ya have a nice space adventure, Stitch?" Lilo asked her pet along the way.

"Eh..." Stitch stuck his tongue out.

"Don't worry, you'll love the luau," Lilo said as they walked. "It's the best thing ever!"

"Let's hope so." Stitch said in alien language.

Emily was already at the luau and was sitting at one table, then turned her head with a smile to them. "Hey, guys!"

Darla ran over to her adoptive mother and hugged her legs.

Emily hugged her back, "I guess you all had a fun day."

"Yep, we sure did," Darla smiled. "And did I ever tell you that you're the best mother ever?"

"Oh, Darla..." Emily giggled and cooed to that. "Thank you, that means a lot to me for you to say."

"Believe me, it's really true." Darla beamed up to her.

Emily smiled, then looked to Atticus. "I guess she had a lot of fun today."

"Yep, especially with her surprise guest." Atticus said.

Emily giggled. "Let's get settled in then."

"Uh, these fire-dancers, they won't hurt, will they?" Darla asked.

"Don't worry, Darla, it's all for entertainment," Emily soothed. "I promise, no one will catch on fire."

"Whew, thank goodness." Darla sighed.

Patch continued to be with Stitch so he wouldn't mess up. Lilo had her own private table with Stitch next to her.

"What's 'poi'?" Urchin asked as he stared at his menu.

"Poi is a Hawaiian word for the primary Polynesian staple food made from the underground plant stem or corm of the taro plant (known in Hawaiian as kalo). It is a traditional part of Native Hawaiian cuisine. Poi is produced by mashing the cooked corm (baked or steamed) until it is a highly viscous fluid," Atticus told him. "I did my research on the food they have here."

Urchin wasn't sure what to think. "I guess I'll try it..."

The waitress filled that out as his order.

"Let's hope it's delicious." Darla smiled.

Nani was about to take another order before one of the employees whispered something into her ear. "Hm?" she looked to the employee in question.

"The fire dancer that's supposed to be dancing with David hurt his leg." The employee whispered.

"Oh, no..." Nani frowned. "We can't cancel the show... Especially since it's tourist season."

"I'm sorry, Nani, but I don't know what else we can do..." the employee frowned. "Unless you can find a replacement."

Nani started to think before an idea popped into her head.

"Find me if anything happens..." the employee sighed and walked off.

"I wonder..." Nani mumbled to herself before going off to find the replacement she had in mind for tonight's dinner and show.

Urchin was given a bowl of poi which was brownish/purplish substance. "Yuck..." he wrinkled his nose. "Looks more like something you throw at a food fight..."

"Just try it." Atticus said before seeing Nani coming over to them.

Urchin poked the pudding like substance. "Ugh... It's like rotten algae..."

"Um, excuse me, Atticus?" Nani walked over. "I hate to interrupt and barge in on your vacation, but do you think you could do another favor for me?"

"Sure, what's up?" Atticus asked.

"Well, we usually have two fire-dancers, but I'm afraid one of them can't make it tonight," Nani said. "Would you mind filling in?"

Atticus's eyes widened. "Fire-Dancing... Me?"

"This ought to be interesting..." Cherry glanced up.

"Sure," Atticus said. "I've done research on them."

Urchin started to throw his poi, not liking it and felt his inner prankster being unleashed.

"Oh, thank you so much, I owe you for this," Nani smiled, then noticed Urchin was throwing poi. "Hey, stop that!"

"Please forgive him, he's a bit of a prankster." Darla said.

"I just don't wanna clean it..." Nani warned.

"Uh, where do I go?" Atticus asked Nani.

"Go up to that stage and in the back," Nani pointed. "David should be there already."

"Thanks." Atticus smiled before going to the back of the stage.

There was in fact a young adult man with wavy black hair who was backstage, getting himself ready, he looked around Nani's age.

"Uh, excuse me?" Atticus greeted. "Are you David?"

"Yeah?" the young man turned his head when his name was called, but was surprised to see a young boy. "Uh... Can I help you, kid?"

"I'm the replacement for the fire dancer that's suppose to join you." Atticus told him.

"Keoni can't make it?" David sighed. "Bummer... Well, I hope you can handle this."

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Atticus smiled.

"Great." David said before giving him his fire dancer outfit.

Atticus nodded, then took it to get changed. "This is going to be a great night in our vacation."

"I hope you enjoy your stay on the islands, and when you go back home, we hope you visit again real soon." David advised like a friendly older brother type.

"I'm sure me and my family will." Atticus smiled before getting changed.

"You ever surf?" David asked. "The waves are really choice before sunset."

"Well, no, I've never surfed before." Atticus said.

"You should try it sometime." David advised.

'Hmm... Maybe I will..." Atticus shrugged, then got adjusted. "Okay, is this right?"

David looked to see him in uniform. "Perfect... Now, just do your best to follow my lead, I'm sure you'll do okay if you've done research."

"I have done my research, but I'll follow your lead." Atticus said.

"You should do okay for your first time though," David said. "Hopefully the stage doesn't catch on fire this time."

"This time?" Atticus winced slightly.

"Hurry," David told him, not answering that question. "It's about time."

"Uhh... Okay..." Atticus agreed, nervously then.

And where they were greeted with an applause.

"Okay... Don't be nervous... Just remember what you read..." Atticus coached himself as it was now pitch dark outside.

David handed him the torches and took his own, taking a deep breath. "YEEEEEAAAH!" he called before he started to move with the flames as the audience watched them with their meal.

Atticus began to move his torch around like what he read online. David did his best based on rehearsal and memory as the people from and away from Hawaii watched them. Cherry seemed to actually participate with the audience as she watched the flames, seeming entranced by it for some reason. 

Atticus seemed to be doing such a great job on stage with David. David did special moves with Atticus during the dance and took his bottle of water, squirting it in his mouth, then held it in his cheeks as he stood straight up with the torches, then breathed against the flame and made it bigger. This caused for everyone to applaud for them.

"Um, David, is the top of the stage fireproof?" Atticus asked.

"Uhh..." David said nervously as he started to bow for the crowd.

However, the roof dropped down, having caught on fire.

"Not again!" David yelped, then tried to kill the fire by stomping on it.

"Why do I feel like I knew that was gonna happen?" Atticus sighed.

"Quick, help me put it out!" David told him while trying to put out the fire.

Atticus did his best to try to help as the audience watched in alarm and surprise.

"Is that part of the show?" Darla asked.

"I don't think so..." Emily said in a soothing tone.

Darla hugged her, but was glad neither Atticus or David got hurt from the flames. Stitch found it funny however and even clapped.

"Stitch, that isn't funny." Patch said.

'Uh-huh..." Stitch argued.

Lilo opened a book after using a red crayon to show what looked like a picture of Stitch, but colored in red. "This is you... This is your badness level," she told her pet. "It's unusually high for someone your size... We have to fix that."

"You can say that again." Patch whispered.

"Ay-yi-yi, Lilo!" Nani came over, glaring to her younger sister. "Your dog cannot sit at the table!"

Patch quickly came to Cherry's feet so he wouldn't get in trouble.

"Stitch is troubled, he needs desserts." Lilo said to her sister.

"Oh, you didn't even eat your sweet potato," Nani frowned as she picked up her sister's plate. "I thought you liked them."

"Desserts!" Lilo emphasized, pointing with her crayon.

Nani sighed, already seeing this was going nowhere. She collected their plates and went into the kitchen. David and Atticus walked by, covered in ash a little.

"That was an interesting experience..." Atticus mumbled.

"Yeah, sorry about that." David smiled sheepishly.

"Hey, Mom." Atticus greeted.

"Hey, Atticus." Emily handed him a towel.

"Thanks..." Atticus took it and looked over to Cherry as she had a silly smile on her face. "Okay... Just get it over with." 

Cherry quietly laughed before started to and cracked up a little loudly at the look of him.

"I'm so glad I could humor you." Atticus groaned.

Cherry kept laughing and even fell out of her chair. Atticus threw his towel in her face with a smirk. Cherry glared, then stopped laughing, she then wrapped up the towel and started to fling it against him for revenge. Atticus simply caught it before it could hit his face. Cherry bit her lip slightly. Atticus smirked darkly, then threw the towel with her in the air and splashed them both into the ocean water.

"I hate that he gets away with that." Cherry groaned.

Atticus smirked, then put his shirt back on for now as their food was ready. Cherry came out of the water and shook herself dry, then patted her ear which made water spew out the other side with a starfish included and she trudged back over to the luau area.

"Don't you think that was a bit much, Atticus?" Emily asked.

"Sorry, Cherry...." Atticus said with a smirk.

"It's okay..." Cherry glared down at him, then mumbled. "I'd expect that from Drell and not you..."

"What do you mean, Cherry?" Patch asked.

"Oh, nuthin'..." Cherry looked away innocently. She then sat down to have dinner with the family she was visiting.

David came by Lilo which got her attention and she introduced him to Stitch. He was shocked at what he saw and was confused if Stitch was a dog. "You sure it's a dog?"

"Uh-huh," Lilo nodded. "He used to be a collie before he got run over."

Nani then came by and brought them both cake slices.

"Yum!" Lilo beamed.

Stitch gobbled up both slices however.

"Stitch!" Patch hissed quietly. "That was very rude!"

Stitch blinked, then spit up the cake slices back up on the plates, then put them together and even took out a cherry to put on top and slid them both over in an attempt to apologize to Lilo.

"Eww!" Lilo grimaced.

"That's one way of apologizing." Patch said.

"Howzit, Nani?" David greeted the waitress older sister of Lilo.

Nani glanced at him and took a long look at him. "Did you catch fire again?"

"How many times does that happen?" Darla asked.

"Uh... I'd rather not talk about it..." David said, uneasily. "Besides, it was just the stage... Atticus did great on his first try... Listen, Nani, I was wondering... If you're not doing anything this--"

"David, I told you, I can't, I..." Nani replied softly, then looked to her sister and new pet, then back to David softly. "I got a lot to deal with right now."

"And I think I know what she means." Patch whispered.

Atticus put his finger to his mouth to Patch.

"I know," David replied. "I just figured maybe you might need some time to--"

Nani winced. "You smell like a lawnmower..."

Urchin got bored, so he threw poi again with a smirk. David started to sniff himself, thinking maybe that turned Nani off from him.

"Look, I gotta go," Nani told David. "The kid at table three's throwing poi again..."

"Urchin, please stop throwing poi." Darla said.

"Maybe some other time, okay?" Nani said to David before walking off.

Urchin laughed as he threw the poi and made a mess.

"Urchin, stop it!" Emily scolded her foster nephew.

"Oh, come on, I'm bored!" Urchin groaned.

"That's no excuse..." Emily said. "What do you think Triton would do if he were here now to see what you were doing?"

Urchin shrugged. "Probably 'beach' me."

"Exactly." Darla said.

Urchin stuck out his tongue. "He's not here..."

"Ugh..." Darla rolled her eyes.

"You look like you could use a slumber party..." Lilo whispered to Darla.

"You have no idea of how much I want one." Darla whispered back.

"How about tonight?" Lilo offered. 

"Really?" Darla asked.

"If you want to and can..." Lilo said. "It'd be my first one too."

"Oh, Mom, can I please go and sleep over at Lilo's house, please?" Darla begged.

"What's going on?" Emily asked.

"Could I sleepover at Lilo's house tonight?" Darla asked again. "Please?"

"Well, I guess it would be a wonderful experience." Emily smiled.

"So?" Darla asked, quite literally on the edge of her seat.

"Did Lilo invite you?" Emily prompted.

"Uh-huh!" Darla nodded eagerly. 

"Well... It's all right with me." Emily then said.

Darla then cheered and hopped over to tell Lilo the good news.

"She really does deserve to have the experience of a sleepover." Emily smiled.

"Yeah, lots of little girls do." Atticus agreed with his mother.

"Oh, I always enjoyed mine..." Emily said. 

"What was it like?" Atticus asked.

"Well, Aunt Beatrice had this neighbor who was divorced from her husband and once a week, her daughter would visit," Emily explained. "After I was adopted into the family, they both agreed that I should get to know her daughter better since I was a growing girl and my only friend at the time was my cowgirl Jessie doll and we became fast friends and she taught me everything I knew about being a happy and healthy young girl on land instead of under the sea."

"Cool." Atticus smiled.

"Slumber parties are just the best thing about being a little girl..." Emily sighed.

"Sure sounds like it." Patch said.

Stitch was getting bored, he then started to sniff something which struck his fancy and he sniffed all around on the ground for it, then finally found it. It appeared to he a chicken drumstick and he was about to eat it, but the alien bounty hunters came back for him, trying to secure him and take him away, but Stitch struggled and growled at his kidnappers.

"Oh, you cannot be serious." Patch groaned before going over to the four-eyed disguised alien and biting him on the leg.

The four-eyed alien yelped which alarmed the one-eyed alien and made him drop the prison cuffs. Stitch then started to gnaw on the one-eyed alien's head like it were a chew toy. Nani was about to take an order, but gasped once she saw that and ran over as Stitch kept chewing on the other alien's head.

"Shoo! Stop! SHOO!" Nani tried to restrain Stitch, even punching him and splashing a pitcher of guava juice on him.

Stitch snarled and tightened his bite, squeezing the one-eyed alien's head. Nani grabbed Stitch by his legs and fell down on the ground with him and the one-eyed alien coughed and sputtered.

"That's what you get for trying to capture my friend." Patch glared at the four-eyed alien quietly.

"You are not understanding..." Jumba told the puppy. "We are needing to be doing so!"

"NANI!" a sharp male voice called.

Nani looked up nervously to see a man in charge of the luau who was also her boss.

"Is that your dog?" the man glared.

"Uh..." Nani stammered nervously.

"All is well," the one-eyed alien smiled and giggled nervously, trying to pass off as a human woman. "Please, go about your business, I'm okay."

"Please tell me that is a female alien with a horrible cough." Patch whispered.

"Ooh, your head is so swollen..." Nani winced.

"Actually, she's just ugly." Jumba deadpanned.

"Couldn't agree more." Patch whispered.

The one-eyed alien chuckled sheepishly. "Darling... He's joking... Ugly? Please, look at me!"

The man looked very firm and scolding to Nani. "This is not working out." 

"Uh, but, but..." Nani feared her career was terminiated.

The man folded his arms strictly to her.

"Yeah?" Nani glared softly. "Well, who wants to work at this stupid fakey luau anyway? Come on, Lilo..."

"Way to go, Stitch, you just cost Nani her job." Patch growled quietly.

"Eh..." Stitch shrugged off, not finding anything bad about that.

Patch sighed.

"Um, Nani?" Darla tugged on Nani's skirt before she went to go change.

"What is it?" Nani groaned, feeling miserable right now.

"Lilo invited me to sleep over." Darla said with a smile.

"Oh, um, that's great, did your mothers approval?" Nani asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Darla said.

"Well, let me get changed first, I'll be right with you." Nani said, going to get dressed in her regular clothes and out of her work clothes.

Darla and Lilo smiled to each other, very excited to have a sleepover together. Patch went up to Darla wanting to come along so then he would make sure his alien friend wouldn't make a mess.

"Uh, maybe my dog could come too?" Darla then added, putting her arms around Patch. "Stitch and Patch could bond... Lilo and I could bond... Whatya say?"

"Whatever, I just need to go right now..." Nani groaned as she went off.

"Great!" Darla smiled, mostly because she was going to have her first real sleepover.

"Now, if you need me, here's the hotel number, just call it and I'll be right over." Emily handed one of the cards from the hotel over to Darla since the girl never had really had a sleepover before and knew little kids tended to feel homesick before the night would even be over on their first night away from home.

"Thanks, Mom." Darla smiled.

"Of course, dear." Nani smiled.

Darla smiled back as she went over to where Lilo and Stitch were as Patch then did the same.

"Guess I'll go back to the ocean...?" Urchin shrugged, not really sure what to do since Darla will be sleeping over at someone else's house.

"You wanna stay at the hotel with us?" Atticus asked Urchin.

Urchin shrugged. "I don't know what else to do."

"Stay with us, you'll be human for a few days, might as well get used to it." Emily said.

"Very well..." Urchin said then.

"Great." Atticus smiled.

"Yeah, I guess...." Urchin shrugged. "Behave yourself, Goldilocks."

"You behave yourself, Brown Eyes!" Darla glared back at Urchin.

"Those two are so in love." Emily giggled.

Darla and Urchin rolled their eyes at that, but secretly smiled to each other. Once Nani was changed, she left with Lilo, Darla, Stitch, and Patch. Atticus, Cherry, Emily, and Urchin then went back to their hotel.


	9. Chapter 9

"Nani, did you lose your job because of me and Stitch?" Lilo asked her older sister once they arrived at her house.

"Nah," Nani replied, looking down back at her little sister. "The manager's a vampire and he wanted me to join his legion of the undead."

Lilo stared down. "I knew it..." she then whispered.

Nani opened the front door and turned on the light to welcome them all home. 

"This is a great home," Lilo told Stitch. "You'll like it a lot."

Stitch sniffed the room and lowly hissed.

"See?" Lilo took that as a sign of approval.

"Uh... Lilo?" Nani called nervously.

"This is a new experience for him." Patch whispered.

"Comfy." Lilo handed a pillow to Stitch.

Stitch grabbed the pillow and started to rip and tear at it.

"Hey!" Lilo took it and put it back.

Stitch then came into the kitchen, he saw the blender and tried to play with it, but it made the juice inside of it splash him.

"Hey, what is the matter with you!?" Nani grabbed Stitch and turned off the blender.

"Stitch, please try to control yourself." Patch growled.

"Be careful of the little angel!" Lilo warned her sister.

"It's not an angel, Lilo, I don't think it's even a dog!" Nani retorted. "We just have to take him back."

"He's just cranky because it's his bedtime." Lilo said.

"He's creepy, Lilo," Nani reminded. "I won't sleep while he's loose in the house!"

Stitch glared at Darla and scanned at her like she were a possible threat.

"You're loose in the house all the time and I sleep just fine!" Lilo argued.

"Um, hello, boy, nice, uh, dog." Darla said, trying to pet Stitch.

Stitch glanced at her. Darla winced, then petted him gently on the head, fearing for her life. Stitch blinked, then seemed to like that and smiled to her with his ears drooping slightly. This caused for Darla and Patch to smile, happy to know that Stitch liked to be pet.

"Look at him, Lilo!" Nani grabbed the alien away from Darla.

"Hey!" Darla pouted.

"He's obviously mutated from someone else," Nani told her sister. "We have to take him back."

"He was an orphan and we adopted him!" Lilo suddenly shouted. "What about O'hana?!"

Patch began to pull on her pant leg, trying to stop her from taking Stitch away.

"He hasn't been here that long!" Nani defended, struggling now as Patch was being difficult. "Darla, control your dog before I take him back too!"

"Neither have I!" Lilo stomped her foot. "Dad said O'hana means family!"

Nani opened the door, only slightly. Patch, Stitch, and Darla looked curious of what Lilo said. This caused Nani to close the door after Lilo mentioned O'hana meant family.

"O'hana means family... Family means--" Lilo was about to continue.

'Nobody gets left behind." Nani said, finishing for her.

"Or?" Lilo prompted.

"Or forgotten," Nani sighed. "I know, I know... I hate it when you use 'O'hana' against me."

Lilo stuck her tongue out. Nani did the same, accidentally dropping Stitch from her hands. This caused for Patch to let go of her pant leg.

"He likes it when you pet him and he's really calm too." Darla smiled.

Stitch nuzzled against Darla with a small smile.

"Don't worry, you can sleep next to me." Lilo told her pet, leading her and Darla upstairs to her bedroom.

"Lilo, go find my old pajamas to let Darla borrow for the night." Nani said as she exhaustedily fell into a chair.

"Okay." Lilo smiled.

"Now you're getting it." Patch smiled at Stitch.

"I hope Nani's old pajamas will be okay..." Lilo said as she put Darla into a short-sleeved shirt with a double zero on it with matching shorts.

"This is fine." Darla smiled, very excited about her first sleepover.

"Really?" Lilo replied. "Well, okay then."

Darla, Lilo, Stitch, and Patch then came to Lilo's room. Stitch knocked the door open, then sniffed around the floor.

"Look how curious the puppy is," Lilo smiled, then showed Stitch around. "This is my room and this is your bed," she gestured to the wooden box with a blanket in it, then took out Scrump and a bottle filled with a brown liquid. "This is your dolly and bottle... See, doesn't spill..." she then shook the bottle.

Stitch took it and gave it a try and it didn't spill, then tasted it.

"What's that?" Darla pointed to the liquid. "Chocolate milk?"

"I filled it with coffee." Lilo stated.

"Um, are you sure that's wise?" Darla asked.

"He like it," Lilo gestured. "Good puppy..." she then lifted his blanket up. "Now get into bed."

Stitch looked up at Lilo's bed, finding it better, then shoved Lilo down and climbed up into her bed.

"Hey, that's mine!" Lilo glared. She then stood up in front of him as he drank from the bottle. "Down!"

Stitch threw the pillow at her, then saw something underneath it and reached to touch it. "What's this?"

"Stitch, don't touch that!" Patch told him. "It's Lilo's!"

"Did your dog just talk?" Lilo asked Darla in shock.

"Dang it." Patch whispered.

"Well, um, if he did, would you faint and think it was a dream?" Darla asked.

"I knew dogs could talk..." Lilo smiled. "Stitch talked to me in the kennel, that's how I knew he was the one."

"Uh, yeah, dogs can talk and so can other animals, but we don't let it go out of control by talking to every human we see, so then no one faints or takes the animal that can talk to scientists so they can find out how they talk." Patch told her.

"Hmm... Very interesting... Well, your secret's safe with me..." Lilo smiled.

"Well, that went better than expected..." Darla was surprised that Lilo didn't scream or pass out from the shock.

Stitch was going wild, chewing on Scrump's head and ripped a paper on Lilo's painting easel from her blue period. Darla was about to pet Stitch again, but Lilo put a flower lei around his neck instead. And where that calmed him down really fast.

"There..." Lilo said, coming to her pet's side. "You know, you wreck everything you touch... Why not try and make something for a change?"

"Hm..." Stitch looked thoughtful, he took off the flower lei and started to make a model city.

Darla sat on Lilo's bed next to her, seeing it was big enough for two people to sleep in and might be a better option than sleeping on the floor. Patch began to help Stitch with it who didn't mind the help.

Stitch smiled and they continued to work. "Ah!" he smiled once they were done.

"Wow, San Francisco." Lilo said.

Patch brought a lamp over and took off the shade, knowing where this was going.

Stitch then got himself ready and roared like Godzilla and even crashed against the city he built, feeling very refreshed. He even picked up a toy car. "Eeek! Save me!" he imitated a scared voice and chewed on the car as he wrecked what he built.

"No more caffeine for you..." Lilo shook her head at Stitch.

"I agree." Patch and Darla said.

Patch decided to act like the brave giant Dalmatian of the model city and play fight with Stitch. Stitch glanced at Patch and was just as strong as him. Darla was curious of what was under Lilo's pillow, but since she was really touchy about it, she decided not to bring it up. Lilo could somehow sense her new friend was curious about the picture. Darla looked back with a smile, then waved weakly. Lilo sighed, knowing that her friend had the right to know.

"Uh, Lilo, are you okay?" Darla asked as their pets were distracted.

Lilo came over and showed Darla a picture of her at a younger age with a couple and someone else who looked like Nani as a teenager.

"Oh, this is a nice family picture," Darla took it with a smile. "Where are your parents anyway? Are they out-of-town for work or something?"

Lilo shook her head. "They're up in Heaven now."

"Heave--" Darla asked, then realized what Lilo said. "Heaven...?"

Lilo nodded as a tear slipped out of her right eye.

"Oh... Uhh... Lilo, I'm so sorry..." Darla said softly. "I know how you feel..."

Lilo wiped her tear and looked to her new friend. "You do?"

"Mm-hmm..." Darla frowned softly. "I lost my parents when I was four, my sister was in the car with them, but she ended up in a coma and my nanny put me up for adoption because we couldn't find anyone else..."

"Oh, my..." Lilo frowned.

Darla frowned, then looked to Lilo with her own tears. Lilo looked back. The two then hugged each other as tears leaked down the sides of their faces. Darla and Lilo did have one thing in common. After Stitch tore down his city, he appeared very bored.

"Wanna get a drink from the fridge?" Patch asked.

"Yeah..." Stitch agreed.

Patch and Stitch then left Lilo's bedroom and wandered downstairs. Darla yawned as she broke out of the hug with Lilo.

"We better get some sleep." Darla said.

"Mm-hmm..." Lilo agreed. "Are you fine sharing a bed with me?"

"I think it's better that way..." Darla sleepily smiled.

The two then pulled back the cover and tucked themselves in as they had a very long day. While those two went to sleep, Nani was on the phone with David, talking about Stitch.

"I think it might be a koala," Nani said as she looked through a dog breed guidebook. "An evil koala... I can't even pet it... It keeps staring at me like it's going to eat me!" she then gasped as she looked at the fridge.

Stitch had the fridge door open. He slanted his eyes at her, but took a can of soda and gave it to Patch, then took the other, put it in his mouth, and shut the door with his back foot. Patch simply waved at Nani before the both of them went back upstairs.

'Hello?' David said on the other line, though the phone was dropped on the floor. 'Nani? Hello? Are you there?'

Nani was just in stunned silence over what she just saw. 

Stitch drank both soda cans and burped before crushing them both.

"Thanks anyway for the soda..." Patch said as he felt very sleepy.

"What you doing?" Stitch asked.

'"Getting some sleep..." Patch curled up. "Stay up as late as you want to, I'm dog tired."

"Oh, okay." Stitch said with a frown before looking around for something to do.

Patch yawned and fell right asleep.

"Such a good puppy..." a familiar voice said.

Patch opened his eyes and found himself in a fluffy cloud paradise. "Annabelle?"

The pink whippet angel smiled to him. "Don't worry, young one, I just wanted to thank you for going on this journey for yourself."

"It's the least I can do." Patch smiled.

"You are a very good puppy..." Annabelle said. "Your parents are very proud... They pray for you every night."

"That's good to know." Patch smiled.

"You will make an excellent guardian angel when your time comes..." Annabelle gently patted the top of his head. 

"Why, thank you." Patch smiled proudly and honorably.

"And which might be close by." Annabelle whispered to herself with a frown.

"Wait... What!?" Patch sounded paranoid. "What do you mean!? What's going on?! What're you talking about!?"

"I knew I shouldn't have whispered that," Annabelle sighed out of defeat. "Okay, you see, you'll be meeting your death soon, but don't let that let you worry about it happening."

"How do I die?" Patch asked.

"You sacrifice yourself for when an alien shoots and tries to kill one of your friends," Annabelle said. "And just know this alien is much bigger than Stitch and anyone that you have ever met."

"Is it Jumba?" Patch guessed.

"No, he's much bigger than Jumba," Annabelle explained. "You will know him when you see him."

"Then I'll be prepared." Patch said.

"You are a very brave, unique, and special puppy." Annabelle replied proudly.

"Anything to be one of a kind..." Patch smiled to her. "How is Charlie anyway?"

"He's doing okay, I suppose..." Annabelle hid a roll of her eyes. 

"Itchy and Anne-Marie miss him a lot," Patch said. "Anne-Marie even asked Harold and Kate to name her new baby sister after Charlie, short for 'Charlotte'."

Annabelle seemed to have a grave face when Itchy was mentioned.

"What's wrong?" Patch noticed that.

"He's going to die as well." Annabelle frowned.

"What?! How?" Patch asked out of shock.

"I'm sorry, but it's time for me to go..." Annabelle's voice grew shallow.

"No, wait, tell me!" Patch begged. "Ms. Annabelle, wait!"

"Itchy will choke on a chicken bone." Annabelle's voice answered him before fading away.

"Mr. Itchy..." Patch pouted as he hung his head in sadness, remembering the good times he shared with the weiner dog in Puppy School.

He was a kind, funny, and warm dog. Even if the first day of Puppy School didn't go so well, Itchy was always his favorite dog outside of Thunderbolt, Lucky, and his own father Pongo. Patch just couldn't believe that Itchy's time would come so soon. But he didn't let that get in the way of his sleep or at least, he tried. He woke up and looked exhausted, unable to go back to sleep.

 

Stitch was looking around Lilo's stuff, but didn't cause too much destruction and found a series of books, then found one that really made him curious.

"You okay, Stitch?" Patch asked.

"What this?" Stitch showed him what he found.

"It's a book," Patch noticed. "That probably belongs to Lilo, maybe you should ask her about it."

Stitch hummed, then shook Lilo awake, crawling up to her bed.

"Huh?" Lilo asked, waking up.

"What this book about?" Stitch opened it.

Darla woke up too since Stitch was now between them with the book.

"That's the Ugly Duckling," Lilo explained with a yawn. "See? He's sad because he's all alone and nobody wants him... But on this page, his family hears him crying and they find him. Then the Ugly Duckling is happy because he knows where he belongs."

"Maybe that's what you need, a place to call home." Patch smiled to Stitch.

"Hmm..." Stitch looked thoughtful for a moment, then crawled down from Lilo's bed.

Lilo then found a record and held it in the air. "Wanna listen to the King?" she offered to her pet. "You look like an Elvis fan."

"Elvis?" Darla asked.

Lilo gaped at her new friend. "Don't tell me you've never heard of the King of Rock and Roll!"

"No, sorry, I've never heard of Elvis before." Darla apologized to her friend.

"You need to get out more..." Lilo said as she dropped from her bed and went to get her record player. "This is one of my mom's favorites."

"Your mother must have really loved Elvis's songs." Darla said.

"Mom and Dad did a whole lot," Lilo smiled. "My dad even played ukulele."

"Cool." Darla smiled.

Lilo got down from her bed and brought a record player and put the record disc on it. Darla felt more awake now and decided to kneel next to Lilo. Stitch looked curious as he was in his bed and turned his head to the record player. Lilo played 'Suspicious Minds' on the record player, but luckily, it wasn't loud enough to wake up Nani. Stitch decided to place one of his claws on top of the record.

Lilo and Darla got worried that that might scratch it and make the record useless, but luckily, it didn't. It only made the music stop. Stitch lightly purred and smiled, then opened his mouth a brief moment which made the song come out from Stitch's mouth like magic. This surprised the girls and Patch. Patch decided to close Stitch's mouth and then open it again. Every time Stitch's mouth opened, the song played, and when it would close, the song would stop.

"We gotta tell Nani." Lilo suggested.

"Yeah." Darla nodded.

"Later though." Patch said once he saw what time it was.

"Oh, right, we'll show this to Nani in the morning." Darla agreed.

"This is so cool." Lilo was excited.

After a little bit longer, Lilo, Darla, and Patch went back to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

After sleeping for a while, it was finally morning and the girls, Patch, and Stitch decided now was a good time to show Nani, Stitch's new skill. Nani was fast asleep.

"Nani.... Nani!" Lilo called to her older sister.

"Uh... Yeah...?" Nani woke up, groggily looking over to the small group in her bedroom.

"Look." Darla and Lilo said, Darla was wearing/borrowing Lilo's green dress with white flowers on it while Lilo wore her yellow dress with green leaves on it. 

Darla turned on the record player and placed Stitch's claw in the place of the needle. Lilo signaled for Nani to wait a minute, then opened Stitch's mouth to play one of Elvis's songs to Nani. This surprised Nani very much, especially with how a dog couldn't be able to do that. Patch moved Stitch's mouth up and down. Nani stared very long, unsure of what to do or say to that. There was then a sharp knocking at the door which made Nani rush out of bed to answer it.

"Who could that be?" Darla asked.

Patch and Stitch decided to follow Nani to find out who was at the door. Nani let out a horrified gasp when she opened the door to see a bald man in a suit with sunglasses. 

"Heard you lost the job..." the man told her.

"Well, uh, actually, I quit that job..." Nani seemed to be making up an excuse. "Because, you know, the hours are just not conductive to the challenges of raising a child..."

Stitch growled at this man, not liking him for some reason, and threw a book at his face which knocked his sunglasses clear off his face. Patch looked at the man as well, not finding or sensing anything bad about this man, but did sense that he didn't like him either and started to growl at him.

"HEY!" the man glared down.

"I am so sorry about that!" Nani picked up Stitch in total fear and alarm.

"What is that thing?" the man demanded.

"That's my puppy!" Lilo piped up with a smile.

"Really?" The man asked before seeing Patch keep Lilo and Darla away from him.

"Uh, this one's mine, sir." Darla said, referring to the Dalmatian puppy.

The man was about to reach down and pet Patch, but the Dalmatian puppy just backed up further from him, not trusting him.

"Hmm..." he then looked back to Nani. "Thus far, you have been adrift in the sheltered harbor of my patience, but I cannot ignore you being jobless. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly." Nani replied.

"And the next time I see this dog," the man then gestured to Stitch. "I expect him to be a model citizen... Capisce?"

"Uh... Yes?" Lilo agreed, wondering what that word was supposed to mean.

"That means 'understood'." Patch whispered to Lilo.

"Oh." Lilo whispered back.

"New job," the man said to Nani. "Model citizen..." he then said to Lilo, putting his glasses back one, but one part of the glass broke off and hit the ground. "Good day..." he then walked off to leave the sisters to their business.

"Okay, who the heck was that guy?" Darla asked.

"He's the social worker." Lilo said.

"Social worker?" Darla asked.

"He's one of the people who come over to make sure I'm happy and stuff like that..." Lilo shrugged, not fully understanding herself. "When he was here last time, I got Nani in trouble and he told me to call him the next time I'd be left home alone." 

"Come on, Lilo, we have work to do..." Nani walked inside of the house.

"I better get back to my family then, but I think Patch wants to stay with Stitch to make sure he behaves." Darla said.

"What a noble dog." Lilo smiled.

"Oh, uh..." Darla realized she still had on Lilo's dress. 

"Keep it." Lilo said.

"Wow, really, Lilo?" Darla smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem," Lilo smiled. "Consider it as my gift to you."

Darla hugged Lilo, then decided to go see Cherry, Atticus, and Emily back at the hotel. "Make sure he doesn't hurt anyone." she whispered to the Dalmatian puppy before leaving.

"You got it." Patch whispered back.

Darla pet him on the head, then walked off.

"She seems nice." Nani said.

"She's my friend." Lilo smiled proudly.

"She sure is." Nani said.

The older Pelekai sister then left to get ready for the day and collected the paper that had a want ad for an old woman named Mrs. Hasagawa.

"I'm gonna try to help make Stitch into a good model citizen." Lilo told Patch.

"I'll help too." Patch nodded to her.

Lilo took out a glossy photograph with a smile. "And I know just the perfect man for the job."

"Let's hope this works." Patch said.

"I'm almost positive it will." Lilo smiled hopefully.

"Hopefully." Patch smiled back.

Darla came back to the hotel room, greeting her family.

"Did you have fun?" Emily asked.

"I sure did." Darla smiled.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you, dear..." Emily said. "Maybe Lilo could visit us sometime back home."

"Yeah, maybe..." Darla said, walking off, then went to Atticus as he played cards with Cherry. "Patch is gonna keep an eye on Lilo and Stitch today to make sure he behaves." She then whispered to her big brother.

"Let me guess, social worker problems?" Atticus asked, sounding like a detective.

"How did you know?" Darla asked.

"I have my ways..." Atticus said. "'Scuse me a sec..." he then turned over to Cherry and laid out four aces. "Heh..."

Cherry smirked and showed she had five aces.

"How is it that you always win?" Atticus asked.

"Because I feel lucky..." Cherry smirked, rubbing her pointer finger and thumb together.

Atticus gave her a glance. "Are you using your medallion?"

Cherry paused, then narrowed her eyes. "No?"

"You are cheater!" Darla glared.

"Hi, Dimples." Cherry greeted offhandedly.

"Give us your medallion until the card game is over." Atticus said.

"Nope..." Cherry licked her teeth.

"Don't make me make you..." Atticus threatened.

"You would never hurt me..." Cherry slanted her eyes.

Atticus lifted her up by her shirt collar.

"You wouldn't hurt me..." Cherry told her best friend.

Atticus sighed. "I'll scare you..."

Cherry laughed at that. She continued to laugh until she saw the same glare in his eyes that looked similar to Drell's glare. "Wha...?"

"I'll ask him to come here..." Atticus smirked, getting over to her. 

"You bluff..." Cherry bit her lip.

"Oh, Drell, Cherry's having a relaxing day!" Atticus called out.

Cherry screamed and ran off, dropping the cards on the way, but she was blocked by the one she feared the most.

"Drell, you look well..." she backed away nervously as he walked toward her. "What're you doing here?"

"I was on vacation until I was called..." Drell replied as he took out an expensive looking cup and drank the juice through the straw next to the umbrella.

Cherry eventually stumbled and fell on her backside, unable to go backwards any further without looking behind her.

"So, what have you been up to, my little plaything?" Drell asked.

"Just hanging out, you know how it is..." Cherry shrugged.

Darla curiously looked to Drell.

"Oh, hello, Darla." Drell greeted.

"Uh... Hello..." Darla smiled softly and waved gently.

Drell waved back, then noticed something missing. "Where's Patch?"

"Uh, long story..." Atticus said softly himself, though tried to hide his emotional worry for Patch like he did the night before. "Don't worry though..." 

"Okay, bye." Cherry said to Drell.

"Cherry, is there a reason why I was called here?" Drell asked.

"No..." Cherry looked away.

"We were playing cards." Atticus started.

Cherry nudged him to shut him up.

"And she used her medallion to cheat." Atticus got to finish.

Cherry then shook him violently.

"Cherry, stop shaking him or else I'll shake you." Drell threatened.

Cherry suddenly stopped, her cheeks changing color only slightly.

"This is going to be a long day for Cherry..." Darla said to seemingly no one.

"Now, Cherry, give them your medallion until the game is over." Drell said.

"Yessir..." Cherry said quickly, giving up her medallion.

Drell then smirked and took her hands, squeezing them once, then letting go. "How do you feel?"

"Scared..." Cherry said as she looked weaker right then.

"Good." Drell said.

Atticus shuffled the deck of cards. "Feelin' lucky?"

"Not really..." Cherry looked back.

"Yeah, well, we're about to see of how you do without your medallion." Atticus said.

"Drell's in the room..." Cherry said. "My chances of winning are like a snowball's chance in--"

"Drell, no giving Cherry bad luck or good luck, just let her do it herself." Atticus told him.

"She doesn't need my help to fail miserably..." Drell smirked cockily.

"DRELL..." Atticus growled.

"Fine..." Drell looked away with an innocent smile.

"Good." Atticus said.

"And don't think of lying to my face again..." Drell narrowed his eyes down to a nervous Cherry. "Strike one..."

"Dare I ask what happens after three strikes?" Cherry asked. 

"Sure, just ask the last guy..." Drell said.

"Okay, what happened to the last guy?" Cherry asked.

Drell reached into his pocket and took out a skull.

"You killed him?!" Cherry asked out of shock.

"Maybe..." Drell smirked. "Take your seat, Pumpkin Head."

Cherry lowly growled for the insult, but took her seat to play against Atticus.


	11. Chapter 11

Meanwhile, Lilo, Stitch, Nani, and Patch were traveling to find Nani a new job and to make Stitch into a 'model citizen'.

"Mrs. Hasagawa?" Nani came up to an old woman who was watering her fruits. "I'm here to answer your newspaper ad."

"Elvis Presley was a model citizen," Lilo instructed Stitch about her music idol. "I've compiled a list of his traits for you to practice. Number one is dancing."

"Perfect, there's no way that Stitch could be bad at dancing." Patch smiled.

Lilo gave her grass skirt to Stitch to borrow.

"I can't talk now, dear," the old woman told Nani. "I'm waiting for someone to answer my ad."

"That's why I'm here!" Nani spoke a little louder.

"Hands on your hips," Lilo demonstrated. "Now follow my lead." she then did that, moving forward slightly.

Stitch copied, finding it interesting. "Ooh..."

"Keep going, he's finding it interesting." Patch smiled.

Lilo then put her arms up with a smile and Stitch copied and they started to be completely in sync.

"Ah, that's my want ad!" Mrs. Hasagawa noticed.

"I KNOW!" Nani replied.

Lilo and Stitch started to spin together, however, Stitch went a little too far and accidentally crashed against Mrs. Hasagawa, a watermelon ended up on the old woman's head with Stitch's head popped out.

"Why is everything so dark!?" Mrs. Hasagawa yelled.

"Well, that was a failed first attempt." Patch whispered.

Nani then took the small group to Kiki's Coffee Shop.

"I'm all about coffee." Nani told the head waitress.

"Let's move onto step two." Lilo instructed.

"Yeah and which is playing the guitar." Patch included.

"That's right," Lilo said as she took out her guitar and gave it to Stitch. "Here... Hold it like this... And put your fingers here..." she then strummed to make music. "See? Now you try!"

"This should be easy for him." Patch smiled.

Stitch tried it and seemed to be doing well so far.

"I wish I could, Nani, but I just hired Teddy, and with tourist season ending..." the waitress was about to say, but the music got too loud.

Stitch kept playing and played a little too loudly which made the windows break and even the coffee pot.

"Okay, that one worked too well." Patch said.

Lilo face-palmed.

"Concierge-er-ing is my life," Nani came to the front lobby of the Birds of Paradise hotel. "I just love to answer phones..."

"This is the face of romance," Lilo instructed as she had Stitch in a white shirt with red design and gave him a rose to carry as they came to a couch with an old lady sitting on it and looking at the paper. "She looks like she could use some lovin'."

Stitch sat next to the woman and took her hand which made her shocked slightly.

"Oh, I can already tell this isn't going to end well." Patch sighed, face-pawing.

"Oh, we might have something..." the conceirage told Nani as he looked through papers.

Nani had a very hopeful smile.

"Good, now kiss her." Lilo told her pet.

Stitch kissed the woman which made her scream in terror.

"See, I told ya this wouldn't end well." Patch told Lilo.

Nani ran out, taking Lilo's hand so hard that Lilo's feet didn't touch the ground.

"I'm sure Elvis had his bad days too!" Lilo told Stitch as he and Patch ran to catch up with them.

Finally, they came to the beach.

"I'm all about saving people?" Nani spoke to the golden-haired lifeguard when she caught a break.

The lifeguard paused a moment, then smiled to her. "Actually, I do think we have an opening."

"Really?" Nani smiled.

"This last one better work, Lilo." Patch said.

"Okay, this is it," Lilo said as she had Stitch dressed exactly like Elvis, complete with a wig. "Time to bring it all together."

Stitch walked out on the beach as Nani was excited that she might finally have a new job ready for her for the social worker and well-being of Lilo.

"Here goes nothing." Patch muffled before handing Lilo a plug.

"Oh, that'd be so great!" Nani told the lifeguard. "You have no idea how badly I need this job!"

Stitch walked out as people were lounging around, then looked over to the blue creature in the Elvis costume.

"It's all you!" Lilo called as she took the plug. "Knock 'em dead!" she then plugged in the stereo.

Stitch looked to the crowd and played the guitar, rocking to the beat like how Elvis would if he were here today.

"Good so far." Patch smiled.

The people looked over to Stitch as he played the song a lot better than at the coffee shop.

"Yeah!" Patch cheered. "Whoo! Go, Stitch!"

Luckily for him, the people were too distracted by the jamming alien to notice that Patch talked. Stitch had a lot of fun as he played music. A young woman even came to take his picture. Stitch then gave a saucy smirk which made the woman wail like a fan girl and faint.

"Looks like it's working." Patch smiled.

Indeed it did. The people flashed their cameras at Stitch. Though Stitch did not like that and was having a bit of a meltdown.

"Don't crowd him!" Lilo warned the people, but they didn't listen.

"Maybe it worked a little too well." Patch frowned.

Stitch started to rip off his Elvis costume and nearly attacked the crowd. The people screamed and started to run for their lives.

"Hey, knock it off!" a man squirted Stitch with his Super Soaker.

Stitch glared, then attacked that, making the man run off with the others. The swarming people were so much that it made the lifeguard stand fall and the lifeguard saw Lilo and Stitch, blaming Nani for her chance at this job and stormed off.

"Strike three and we're out." Patch sighed.

The social worker saw that, he didn't approach the Pelekai sisters, but he bore a very grave and strict face.

David came from the waves, despite what happened, he appeared to be cheerful, apparently he missed what happened. "Hey, Lilo! Howzit... Nani...?" he then looked down to see the two sisters in despair, Nani didn't find a new job and Lilo had failed to make her pet into a model citizen.

"We're having a bad day." Lilo said softly.

"Hey, David, what's going on--" Atticus was about to ask what was going on until he saw Lilo and Nani looking rather down.

Darla and Urchin had come too, collecting seashells together.

"Hmm..." David looked down to the sisters, then bent down to them with a hopeful smile. "Hey, I might not be a doctor, but I know there's no better cure for a sour face than a couple of boards and some choice waves... What do you think?"

This made Lilo and Nani smile instantly.

"I think that's a great idea." Nani said.

"Hey, Darla!" Lilo called once she saw her new friend. "You ever surf before?"

"Surfing... I-I-In the water...?" Darla sounded nervous at first.

"Yeah, it's not that hard." Lilo smiled.

"I was about to teach Atticus how to surf." David smiled.

"We better get our swimsuits first." Nani said.

"Yeah." Lilo agreed.

"We'll wait for you, I brought Darla's new swimsuit with me in case she wanted to go in the water." Atticus said to the sisters.

"You did?" Darla asked.

"Surprise." Atticus smirked, taking out a two piece red bathing suit with white hearts all around it.

Darla took it. "Where'd you get this?"

"When you and Urchin went off together in the gift shop, Mom and I decided to get you a new bathing suit," Atticus said. "Do you like it?" 

"I love it!" Darla said, then realized something when Urchin looked curious. "Uh... Atticus...? Can we even go in the water? What if we... Uhh... Ya know... Become mermaids and it freaks them out?"

"Then we'll just have to explain to them if that ever happens." Atticus said.

"Okay..." Darla bit her lip.


	12. Chapter 12

After a little while, Darla was in her new swimsuit, Urchin took his shirt off and ditched his sandals, wearing only his shorts, and eventually, Nani and Lilo came back in their own swimsuits so the surfing could begin. They saw Atticus had his swim trunks on ready to surf.

"Don't be scared..." Lilo told Darla and Stitch. "It's going to be okay."

"I swim a lot during the summer, but... Heh... Not like this..." Darla smiled nervously, since she had been brought into Atticus's family and was now a mermaid like them, she was a little nervous about exposing it to her new friend.

"Don't worry, Darla, nothing bad will happen." Urchin said.

Darla glanced at him. "Thanks, Urchin."

Urchin smiled to her and ruffled up her hair. "Goldilocks..."

"Brown Eyes..." Darla stuck her tongue out.

"You two so like each other if you know what I mean." Lilo winked.

Darla and Urchin gaped to Lilo, turning bright red suddenly. Lilo giggled to them. 

"So you all ready to do some surfing?" Atticus asked.

"Yeah!" the others cheered.

Stitch came over too, wanting to surf as well, even if he didn't know exactly what that was.

"Let's do it then!" Lilo beamed.

With that, they were all going on surfboards.

"Where's Cherry?" Darla asked her brother.

"Under an umbrella, reading." Atticus told her.

Darla looked over. "Hi, Cherry!"

Cherry waved her hand as she read one of her novels in the shade.

"Alright, let's get started." David said.

"Right." Urchin nodded as he was going to join in, this would surely be an experience for him more than the others.

Everybody got on their respective surfboards and made it out into the water to experience the waves in a different light.

"This is so exciting." Atticus smiled.

Darla and Urchin sat closer together at the end as they gently balanced on the board among the ocean blue waves.

"So what do we do first?" Atticus asked.

"Just follow my lead," David told Atticus, being a professional and all. "When you stand, try to keep good balance and don't think about falling."

"Okay, that sounds easy enough." Atticus said.

"With enough practice, you could do tricks like me." David smiled.

"Cool, anyways, let's get started." Atticus smiled.

"You have to move with the waves..." David advised.

"Right." Atticus nodded.

Stitch poked his hand in the water, but winced for some reason like it had hurt him.

"Stitch doesn't seem to like water." Patch whispered as he went along with them.

"I wonder why..." Urchin mumbled softly.

Patch simply shrugged, not sure himself. Despite Stitch's apparent and strange fear, the surfing seemed to go well so far. Atticus was nervous at first, but he kept steady and remembered David's lessons and tips on surfing so he wouldn't have a bad wipe-out. Patch seemed to be able to balance the weight on the surfboard. 

"This isn't so hard..." he told himself with a smile.

Nani gently tossed Lilo over to David. David chuckled in response, then tickled Lilo as he decided to take her for a wave while Nani was with Stitch. And where to Lilo it was like a ride. So far, Atticus, Darla, and Urchin stayed in their human forms as they waded in the water with the boards. Stitch saw Patch surfing with ease, he then clapped and got excited, wanting to try it, but Nani stared at the odd sight of Patch surfing and Stitch's excitement which weirded her out. Stitch then took that as a sign to be like a dog again and sat quietly next to her.

"Nani, I think Stitch is excited because he saw Patch surfing and wants to try himself." Darla said.

"Oookay..." Nani replied, not sure how to properly respond to that.

"Animals can feel excited and can be good at surfing." Darla smiled.

"We'll see..." Nani said.

After a little while, the others decided to take a break from surfing as it was getting close to sunset. David and Nani played around with Lilo and even buried her in the sand to make a castle. Stitch watched this and tried to make one of his own, but it ended up being just a huge lump of sand. David then put a flag on the castle and Stitch tried to put a leaf on top of his, but he felt it wasn't any good. Patch frowned, seeing that Stitch could use some help, so he used the magic from his Equestrian medallion/Pound Puppy tag and lifted Stitch's head and caused for a sandcastle to be built, but not big enough to crush him. Stitch oohed at the castle and smiled to it.

"Great castle, Stitch!" Lilo beamed from her spot.

Nani and David looked to the sandcastle and were very shocked and amazed by it. Stitch was surprised and unsure what to say, but when he saw Patch shush him quietly with a wink this told him that his friend did this for him. Patch and Stitch smiled to each other.

Urchin was looking at the shells on shore, looking for a specific one.

"Whatcha doin'?" Atticus asked.

"Uhh... Nuthin'..." Urchin said, though it was obviously a lie since his cheeks were red.

"Are you trying to find something special to give to Darla?" Atticus asked.

Urchin bit his lip. "Is it that obvious?"

Atticus smirked and folded his arms.

"Okay, fine, I like the brat..." Urchin said, not meaning 'brat' in a bad way when he called Darla that. "Are you sure she isn't a mermaid by blood?"

"Positive," Atticus said. "Why do you ask?"

Urchin smiled softly then. "She sings like an angel."

"She used to be a star in Hollywood." Atticus said.

"How could she be a star?" Urchin asked. "She's a living being."

"No, no, I mean she used to be famous," Atticus explained. "People loved her and adored her."

"Oh..." Urchin rubbed his arm. "Either way, I love her singing... It's like nothing I've ever heard before... I think she even sings better than Ariel."

"No way." Atticus said.

"Well, I think she does..." Urchin admitted.

"So... Do you like her like her?" Atticus asked.

"Yeah..." Urchin stared at the sand with a sheepish smile. "I wanna give her a pretty shell up here... I hear humans like to collect pretty shells on land."

"Some do." Atticus said.

"I want her to have it..." Urchin dapped his knuckles together nervously.

"Come on, I'll help you." Atticus offered.

"Thank you..." Urchin smiled.

"No problem." Atticus smiled back.

Urchin then walked with Atticus to find a pretty shell to give to Darla.

"I am not moving from this spot..." Cherry said as she kept reading. "Nothing can hurt me from here..."

"Uh, Cherry?" Darla came up to the older girl.

Cherry rolled her eyes with a low groan. "This better be good, Dimples..."

"Uh... How do I get a boy to like me?" Darla asked.

"Why?" Cherry asked. "Is there a boy you like?"

"Yeah..." Darla bit her lip. "He's a little bit older."

"Eight... Nine...?" Cherry guesstimated. 

"Something like that..." Darla shrugged. 

"I don't know much about boys and dating..." Cherry glanced down at the girl.

"Oh, um, okay, then maybe I should ask Nani for some advise." Darla said.

"You do that..." Cherry siad as she read her book.

"What're you reading?" Darla asked.

"How To Get Rid of a Warlock Who Can Kill You With the Snap of His Fingers." Cherry said.

Darla gawked, then smirked a little. "That's a joke, right, Cherry?"

"Uhh... Sure..." Cherry chuckled uneasily.

Darla simply shrugged and went over to Nani.

"Don't fail me now..." Cherry whispered as she read the book.

"Uhh... Nani..." Darla came to her new friend's older sister. 

Nani looked down. "Something wrong?"

"Uhh... No... I just..." Darla shrugged. "Um... I think I like a boy, and I'm not sure what to do."

"And let me guess, you need some advice on how to let him know you like him, right?" Nani smiled.

"Uh... Yeah..." Darla shuffled her foot in the sand slightly with her fingers twiddled together unsurely.

"Well, I guess I could give you some advice." Nani giggled.

Darla smiled, feeling hopeful. "I never felt this way about anybody before."

"That's what love is..." Nani said.

"I've never felt love like this before." Darla smiled.

"Perhaps you should make plans to get alone with him..." Nani suggested. "Go somewhere it could just be the two of you... Like our hammock in the backyard."

"That sounds great." Darla smiled.

"Does Urchin know how to surf?" Nani asked.

"Oh, uhh... I'm not sure..." Darla replied.

"Hmm..." Nani then tried to think of ways Darla and Urchin could be alone together.

Stitch began to drag a surfboard over to Lilo as his way of telling her he wanted to surf too.

Lilo looked back to her pet and smiled once she knew exactly what he was thinking. She then went to her big sister. "Stitch wants to surf with me... Could we go?"

"Huh, oh, sure, Lilo." Nani said.

"Mind if me and Atticus and Patch join you?" Darla asked.

"Not at all, get your board." Nani said.

Atticus did so, joining them with Patch and Darla.

"I feel weird..." Darla said.

"You gonna ride?" Atticus asked David.

"I'll sit this one out," David said with a smile. "You guys have fun."

"Okay." Atticus smiled.

"No worries." David smiled back.

Atticus then went with Nani, Stitch, Patch, and Darla to try out the ocean waves.

Urchin found a smooth and shiny pink shell with a white streak and saw the shell was shiny enough to see one's reflection like a mirror. He then took out a string and tied the shell around it to wear like a necklace, he then smiled at the results. "This is perfect for Darla." he smiled.

"Whatcha got there?" David asked him.

Urchin flipped out a moment, then kept his cool once he saw it was just David. "Oh... It's a gift for a friend of mine..."

"Would this friend happen to be a girl?" David smirked.

Urchin turned bright red. "Sorta..."

"I knew it." David smirked.

Urchin stared at the sand then.

David ruffled up his blonde hair. "Does she know?"

"I kinda wanna show her..." Urchin said. "That's why I found this shell..."

"Ah, young love." David smiled.

"It's a strange feeling... But I kinda like it..." Urchin said.

Atticus surfed with Patch and Darla while Nani surfed with Lilo and Stitch.

"There they go..." Urchin whispered.

"I hope Stitch has a good time surfing." Patch smiled.

"Okay, guys, let me show you what I got." Atticus smirked proudly as he started to stand.

Stitch was having fun so far, but when the boards were going down through the water, it scared him a little and he clung onto Nani's leg for protection at first. Nani glanced down at him, then smiled a little as she surfed with ease. Atticus surfed the same way. It was a lot of fun for the six of them as they had tons of fun so far.

Stitch started to stand on the board, liking it a whole lot better now. "Yeah!"

Patch simply howled out of joy, but then saw something or someone about to grab Stitch. It was a great surf until someone emerged from the ocean wave behind them and came between the boards. Everybody yelled out as they then suddenly fell off their boards and ended up splashing into the water. David looked out, deeply concerned for what he just saw. Patch, the one who saw what had emerged from the wave, dove right underwater to find the four-eyed alien.

Nani popped her head out as she waded in the water. "Lilo!" she called out worriedly.

Lilo luckily came up next to her sister. "What happened?"

"Oh... Some lolo must've stuffed us in a barrel..." Nani muttered metaphorically.

Lilo looked around. "Where's Stitch and the others?"

"Over here!" Atticus and Darla told them from their right said.

"But I can't find Stitch or Patch." Darla said.

Suddenly, Stitch emerged from the water in hysteria, then tried to grab onto Lilo.

"Get off of her!" Nani glared.

Stitch then grabbed onto Lilo and both were dragged underwater. Patch came up to the surface to his owner.

"Quick, Atticus, kiss me on the forehead, quickly!" Patch told him.

"Okay." Atticus said before kissing his Dalmatian puppy on the forehead.

Patch then changed into a merpup.

"Well... That just happened..." Darla said.

Patch's tail fin was red and where he could now swim underwater as he dived underwater to help Stitch and Lilo.

"You okay there, Cherry?" Atticus looked over.

"I got wet..." Cherry frowned.

Stitch didn't mean to drag Lilo down, he was only holding her for protection.

"What happened?" David came over.

"Stitch dragged her down!" Nani replied.

David took a deep breath and went underwater to save Lilo. Patch continued to swim underwater until he found the culprit of why Stitch dragged Lilo down. David and Nani came down and saved Lilo, accidentally kicking Stitch down. Patch glared at Jumba and his companion as he freed Stitch, whacking the cuffs out of the way before they could catch him inside of them. 

Stitch then bit down on the oxygen tank, accidentally breathing in a lot of water which was not good for an air-breathing creature, even from outer space. Jumba and his companion began to fly off and away skipping away on the water. Patch saw that Stitch needed to get air fast, so he began to swim him up to the surface.

Nani panted as she got out of the water with Lilo in her arms. "Lilo? Lilo, look at me... Look at me, baby, are you hurt?"

"No..." Lilo replied softly.

Patch began to bring Stitch up to the sand, slowly returning back into a Dalmatian puppy.

"He's unconscious..." David noticed. 

Patch came over to a safe spot and set Stitch down gently on the sand and put his paws over the creature's chest. Stitch coughed, sputtered, and then sat up after he got water out. He then snarled rather viciously which made Nani grab Lilo and pull her back, worried that he might hurt them.

"Stitch, calm down, you're safe now." Patch calmed down his alien friend before noticing the social worker and which was not a good sign.

Stitch did calm down, luckily not hurting anyone, whether by accident or on purpose.

Nani noticed the social worker, then handed her little sister to her friend. "David, take Lilo..." she then walked over to the social worker, rather nervously and sadly, feeling this was going to end badly. "We were... I-It's just that..."

"I know you're trying, Nani," the social worker stopped her right there. "But you need to think about what's best for Lilo..."

Patch didn't mean to eavesdrop, but he put his ear up to listen closer to their conversation.

"Even if it removes you from the picture," the social worker continued. "I'll be back tomorrow for Lilo. I'm sorry."

This caused for Patch to become shocked, did this mean he was going to take Lilo away from her only family? Nani looked very crushed and heartbroken.

David came over with Lilo and the little girl was brought into Nani's arms to go back home without another word. Stitch looked very curious and worried, he could tell it was not good due to how doomed everybody else looked.

"You know, I really believed they had a chance..." David said. "Then you came along."

Stitch felt hurt from that statement.

"Stitch, that man was a social worker, tomorrow, he's going to come over to Lilo's house and take her away." Patch told him.

"N-No..." Stitch's ears drooped.

"I'm afraid so..." Patch said softly.

Stitch batted his eyes and tears came to them. "M-M-My fault..."

"Stitch, I don't think I've ever seen you cry before." Patch said.

Stitch looked very emotional and unhappy. Patch frowned, he then decided to give his new friend a hug. Stitch hugged back as he could only blame himself for Lilo being forced to leave the only home she's ever known.

After a while, they both went back to Lilo's house. Atticus decided to go back with Cherry, Darla, and Urchin back to the hotel room.

"Is it okay if I go over to say goodbye to Lilo?" Darla asked.

"Of course..." Atticus replied. "You can stay as long as she can."

"Thank you..." Darla said in relief, very sad, she made a new friend and now she was going to be gone just like that.


	13. Chapter 13

Stitch, Patch, and Darla went to the backyard of the Lilo's house.

"You too?" Patch asked.

"I don't think I'll have a chance tomorrow..." Darla said.

"Good thinking." Patch said.

Darla sighed, hating that this had to happen. Stitch looked over to see a mother duck which made him think of the story Lilo taught him. The mother duck quacked for her children and waddled off with them. After seeing them, it made Stitch think, did he have a family? The sisters were sitting on the hammock together with orchid flowers in their hair.

"Lilo, honey..." Nani tried to explain to her younger sister about what happened with the social worker on the beach. "We have to... Uhh..."

"Don't worry," Lilo said softly. "You're nice... And someone will give you a job... I would..."

Nani came closer to Lilo and held her securely in her arms as they had their flowers in their hands. "Come here..." she said before she started to sing a special song in the softest and sweetest voice she could. This touched Darla's, Patch's, and even Stitch's hearts. As Nani sang, the wind gently blew and it took their flowers with it. Eventually, it got late enough and it was time for Lilo to go to bed.

Stitch was given permission to look under Lilo's pillow and found the photograph of the family that used to be. 

"That's us before..." Lilo explained softly. "It was rainy, and they went out for a drive... What happened to yours?"

Stitch looked to her, very, very unsure and even clutched the pillow.

"Um, I don't know if Stitch remembers having a family." Patch said.

"I hear him cry at night..." Lilo said to that, then looked to her pet. "Do you dream about them?"

Stitch was still in sad silence.

Darla looked very much heartbroken right now, Lilo's words were making her think of her own parents.

"I know that's why you wreck things... And push me..." Lilo continued. "Our family's little now... And we don't have many toys... But if you want, you could be part of it... You could be our baby and we'd raise you to be good... O'hana means family... Family means nobody gets left behind, but if you want to leave, you can... I'll remember you though... I remember everyone that leaves."

"Stitch, if you want to stay here, it would make Lilo really happy," Patch said. "But if you want to leave, then the window is open."

Stitch knew Lilo would be happy if he stayed, but he was blamed for something that happened on the beach and he knew it was his fault, so he decided to leave and he took the Ugly Duckling book with him.

"I better make sure he stays safe." Patch said.

'Good boy..." Darla said softly. 

Patch nodded to her, then went to follow Stitch. Lilo was sad that Stitch left, but was happy that he wouldn't be alone.

"You gonna be okay, Lilo?" Darla asked her new friend.

Lilo looked back. "I'm happy that Stitch won't be alone." 

Darla and Lilo hugged each other then as they started to cry because after tomorrow, they would never see each other again.

While they went to sleep, Patch stayed in the jungle with Stitch.

"L... L... Lost..." Stitch read to the page of the book that he saw that spoke to him the most. "I'm lost..."

"Stitch, you just spoke English." Patch smiled.

"English?" Stitch asked.

"It's a language that people... Well... Not everybody... On Earth speaks..." Patch explained the best that he could. 

Stitch had a small smile, but it would not last long, he was pretty sad.

"How about we get some sleep?" Patch suggested. "It's been a long day."

Stitch nodded in agreement.

"Come on, I know a way that's a lot more comfortable than it looks." Patch advised.

Stitch then watched him get comfortable and he lay down beside the actual puppy, finding some comfort, even if it wasn't like the dog bed Lilo made and fell asleep next to Patch. 

"Good night, Stitch." Patch said.

"Night..." Stitch replied.

Patch began to have a vision of what would happen the next day, which would be the day of his death. It made him shiver and tremble, fearing the future as it would lead to his demise, much to his depression and worry. A giant alien with a killer whale's head was about to shoot Stitch inside his spacecraft when Patch got in the way, so then his blue alien friend wouldn't get hurt/killed. The blast it Patch and by the time it hit, the puppy woke up, panting heavily. Stitch was fast asleep next to Patch.

Patch sighed and bowed his head. "I hope this is worth it..." he whispered to himself about 'taking the bullet' for Stitch.

Stitch yawned a bit before saying in his sleep something that touched Patch's heart. "Friend Patch is Stitch's friend."

Patch heard that and smiled with a tear in his eye. "Friend Stitch is Patch's friend... "he then said in return. He licked the blue alien's face cheek before going back to sleep.

It was a peaceful night, at least, except for Patch's dream vision. Annabelle was truly sorry up in Heaven that it had to be this way, but she promised that it would all be worth it. And where it truly would.


	14. Chapter 14

Drell came to Cherry and Atticus's bed as it was rather early in the morning for some people, especially on vacation. "I hope you all enjoyed Hawaii, because you'll be coming again in the near future..."

"You're still here?" Cherry groaned.

"Yes, now, listen up..." Drell sat between the two in their bed. "You guys may not know this, Athena probably told you, Atticus, but Lilo is the descendant of Pele, the volcano goddess... I want you to keep an eye on her in future times since Darla has become close with her and look for signs of her powers as my Oracle has taught me of her future."

"We sure will." Atticus said.

"How will we know when she's ready?" Cherry asked.

"Whenever the time will be..." Drell said. "This experiment she calls Stitch is not the only one of him either..."

"What?" Cherry and Atticus asked.

"Well, think about it..." Drell looked to them. "Stitch is Experiment 626, there have to be 625 others, right?"

"Of course, so then Stitch must be the last of the experiments." Atticus said.

"You think so...?" Drell asked. "You never know... There may be more, but to my knowledge there's only 626, Stitch being the youngest... Nobody knows where these other experiments are, but for right now, we're safe, but you guys better get used to Hawaii, I'm gonna have you guys visit here more in the future."

"You got it." Atticus smiled.

"Around when?" Cherry asked.

"Whenever I say, but in May, there's a festival for Lilo's hula class to participate in," Drell explained. "I'm sure Lilo will be a shoe in... Her mother won the competition when she was Lilo's age... She was beautiful as an orchid and graceful like a wave..."

"Wow, Drell, that was beautiful." Cherry said.

"The judges said it, not me." Drell said then, killing the moment.

"Oh." Cherry said.

"Should we be back here for that?" Atticus asked.

"Indeed..." Drell instructed. "Cherry, I know you hate the beach, but get used to it."

Cherry sighed. "Yes, Drell..."

"Could Mo and Patch come with us?" Atticus asked. "Darla too... She's Lilo's friend after all."

"Of course... yes..." Drell said.

"Thanks, Drell." Atticus smiled as he hugged him.

Drell looked very touched in the hug, then gently patted Atticus's back. "You're welcome, Atticus..." he whispered, slightly emotionally.

Atticus then suddenly felt something bad was going to happen.

Drell let go and stood up from their bed. Cherry and Atticus slightly rolled into each other due to him leaving kind of a sunken spot in the bed due to his weight and height.

"Well... I should go..." Drell said softly. "You okay, Atticus?"

"Something's wrong..." Atticus said.

Drell looked back. "I'm sorry." he said like he knew already.

"No, no, it's not because of you, it's Patch, him and Stitch are in danger." Atticus said.

"I know..." Drell shut his eyes and covered them.

"I gotta go!" Atticus hopped to his feet and looked back. "Drell... What's wrong?"

"Never mind... Just go help them..." Drell urged as his voice cracked slightly.

"You sure?" Atticus asked.

"Just please go..." Drell sighed.

Atticus looked to him, but left as quickly as he could to save Stitch and Patch from whatever was giving him a bad feeling.

"Drell...?" Cherry came up behind the warlock.

"Now now, Cherry..." Drell sounded too miserable to make her miserable.

"What's wrong?" Cherry asked.

"What makes you think something's wrong?" Drell asked.

"You're crying..." Cherry said.

Drell sighed, then bent down to her height, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I didn't wanna tell Atticus this, but... Something terrible is going to happen..."

"What's the worst that can happen?" Cherry asked.

Drell frowned deeply. "Patch is going to die today."

"What?" Cherry's voice grew shallow.

"It's true " Drell frowned.

"W-Why didn't you tell Atticus?" Cherry asked.

"Because it's something you don't tell someone..." Drell said. "Dogs are a man's best friend... How do you think Atticus would feel to hear that his best friend will die soon?"

Cherry glanced to him.

"It's different between boys and their dogs..." Drell said, then sighed. "When I was around his age, I had this hamster familiar... Yes, a hamster... We went everywhere together... I practiced my spells on him... I'd ride with him on my broomstick... We were best friends... But then... He ate one of my mother's posies... He fell asleep and never woke up."

"He died?" Cherry asked.

"No, literally, he fell asleep and he never woke up, he never has since then and never will, he might as well be dead..." Drell explained.

"What did he eat last?" Cherry asked.

"The posies..." Drell said. "You've seen the Wizard of Oz, haven't you?"

"Lots of times." Cherry said, fondly remembering those simple days.

"Well, witch's posies can be fatal to animals and non magical creatures," Drell explained. "Since my familiar ate them, he went to sleep and never woke up. My mother turned me into a pig and made me sleep in a pen with my dad and she told me 'stop whining'."

"Oh... How old were you?" Cherry cooed.

"35..." Drell sighed.

Cherry offered a hanky since she could see him still crying.

"Thank you." Drell said, accepting the handkerchief.

Cherry looked long to Drell. Drell sniffled and blew his nose noisily and handed it back to her. Cherry grimaced as it was dripped in his snot mucus.

While that went on, Stitch and Patch were still in the jungle. The two friends were asleep and the sun was halfway coming up, it was around dawn.

"Morning, Stitch." Patch smiled before hearing something or someone coming.

Stitch blinked a few times, then woke up and looked curiously to Patch as they had the open book in front of them. He then heard someone coming and looked over to see it was Jumba which made him back up slightly.

"Don't run..." Jumba said, sounding gentle at first for once. "Don't make me shoot you... You were expensive..."

Stitch stood close to Patch, not even trying to run away or call for help.

"Yes, yes, that's it... Come quietly..." Jumba cooed.

"Mm... Waiting..." Stitch uttered out.

"That's right, me and Stitch are waiting." Patch said.

"For what?" Jumba asked, stepping forward, stepping onto the book and looked down.

"Family..." Stitch told his creator.

"Ah..." Jumba noted, then glared to his experiment. "You don't have one... I made you..."

"Oh..." Stitch pouted. "M-Maybe I could..."

"You were built to destroy," Jumba glared. "You can never belong... Now come quietly and we will take you apart."

Stitch didn't like the sound of that at all and started to run away. Patch ran off with him, so then his friend wouldn't have to face this alone.

"No, no, no, no, don't run!" Jumba called. "Don't run!" he then repeated in frustration and went after his creation and the Earth creature native to this planet.

"Where are you going?" Patch asked his new friend.

"Lilo!" Stitch told him. "I worried..."

Patch smiled, happy that his alien friend was starting to care about the Earth girl. They both ran off into the direction of Lilo's house while avoiding Jumba to be taken away forever.

Darla had accidentally fallen asleep while at Lilo's house, so she came with Lilo by her side while Nani was glumly sitting in the kitchen table.

"Lilo..." Nani said softly. "I didn't hear you get up..." she then looked to her younger sister and saw she looked a lot more miserable than last night. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"Stitch left..." Lilo replied quietly.

"He did?" Nani asked actually sad herself that the little blue alien left.

"It's good he's gone..." Lilo replied dryly and heartbroken. "He didn't wanna be here anyway... We don't need him..."

Darla knew that her friend didn't mean that, Nani decided to try and talk with her younger sister. She just walked off and stared out the window as her new friend was going to be taken away very soon. Nani was giving Lilo some personal and sisterly advice the very best that she could in this emotional state. The three of them heard a knocking at the door and where Darla and Nani decided to hold onto Lilo. Nani opened the door and saw a very familiar face to her, though was relieved to see it wasn't the social worker.

"Nani!" David called.

"Nani," David nodded. "I think I found you a job."

"You what?!" Nani's eyes widened.

"Old Man Kuhkini's store," David explained. "But we got to hurry!"

This was the greatest news Nani had heard all day, but had to do something first before leaving.

"Oh, um, okay, Lilo?" Nani turned to her younger sister. "Baby, this is really important. I need you to stay here with Darla for a few minutes. I'm going to be right back. Lock the door and don't answer it for anyone, okay? Things are finally turning around!" she then ran out the door to join David for this new job opportunity. "Aw, David, I owe you one."

"That's okay," David smiled to her. "You can just date me and we'll call it even."

Nani was actually going to consider that.

Atticus ran right to Lilo's house, following his heart and where he saw Patch and Stitch running inside the house as well.

"Patch... Thank goodness..." Atticus called between pants.

"No time to talk, we gotta run!" Patch told his owner.

"Why's that?" Atticus asked before his pet brought him inside.

"Trust me, okay?!" Patch sounded hysterical.

Atticus looked worried and urgent as they came inside the Pelekai house.

Darla and Lilo came into one room and saw the blue alien creature and Dalmatian puppy come into the house. "Patch/Stitch, what is it?"

Patch and Stitch shushed the little girls and tried to tiptoe off with them, but...

"HA!" Jumba came in with an evil smile. "Hiding behind your little friend won't work anymore... Didn't I tell you? We got fired this morning! New rules!"

"Let me guess, this is reason why you both were running, right?" Atticus asked his Dalmatian puppy.

"You got that right..." Patch said while glaring to the four-eyed alien.

Cherry and Drell slowly slid up from behind a closed window.

"Huh... And people called us four-eyes growing up..." Cherry commented.

"YOU maybe, if someone called ME four-eyes, my mother would eat them." Drell scoffed.

Jumba aimed his plasma gun to shoot at Stitch and shot. Stitch caught the plasma ball like it was a baseball, but it was really hot and he threw it at Lilo's record player which played 'Hound Dog'.

"What do we do?" Patch asked.

Stitch began to think until he finally got an idea. He gestured for the others to follow him while Jumba was down and distracted. Patch, Atticus, Lilo, and Darla followed Stitch.

"Ooh, I love this song!" Jumba laughed as he stood up, looking for his victims.

Stitch began to act like a doctor with Patch, Lilo, and Darla as his nurses. Scrump was the patient. Stitch asked them for what he wanted and needed for his plan and they gave them. Lilo showed no hesitance for Scrump to be used like this.

"Check." Stitch picked up the doll once it was ready.

Darla took Scrump and gently wheeled the doll out on a roller-blade. And which stopped right in front of the four-eyed alien who was curious of what Scrump was. He tried to reach out and touch the doll, but it suddenly exploded, knocking him down and bouncing Scrump on his fat belly. Patch retrieved Scrump and brought her right back to her rightful owner. Lilo took her doll and hugged it instantly as she went off with Darla.

"What should we do?" Darla asked.

"Hide!" Lilo suggested.

Drell grinned at the chaos from Jumba and Stitch.

"Drell, use your magic to stop this!" Cherry begged.

"No way!" Drell smiled before he saw Patch joining in to help his alien friend." Is that pup insane?!"

"He's Atticus's dog now..." Cherry sunk slightly.

Stitch crawled on the ceiling as Jumba threw plates at him.

"Come on, what's the big deal," Jumba glared up. "I'll put you back together again. I'll make you taller and not so fluffy!"

"I LIKE FLUFFY!" Stitch retorted as he dodged every plate with ease.

"Yeah! So leave him alone!" Patch barked from behind the four -eyed alien to startle/scare him.

"Where did you come from!?" Jumba jumped back.

Patch grinned.

"Drell... Please..." Cherry urged.

"Shut up!" Drell put his arm around her and put his hand over her mouth with an eager grin. "I wanna watch this!"

Cherry muffled and wiggled. Once Cherry saw Atticus, she had to tell him what she knew, even if Drell would punish her.

"Now, you leave my friend alone!" Patch barked.

Jumba growled at Patch. Stitch said something in his alien language that was very unflattering.

"Ooh, burn~" Patch smirked.

"Hey, leave my mother out of this!" Jumba glared.

Suddenly, the ceiling came down with Stitch and they both crashed down.

"Oh, no, Stitch!" Patch gasped.

Stitch appeared to be unharmed. Patch did a double take and smiled. Drell laughed.

"Atticus!" Cherry got free and started to run away from Drell's side.

"Yeah, Cherry?" Atticus asked.

Drell saw what Cherry was doing and tried to stop her.

"You have to listen..." Cherry panted. "Patch is-"

Drell snapped his fingers which zipped Cherry's lips shut.

Cherry muffled, unable to speak, then took the zipper and unzipped it. "Patch is-"

Drell then came over to Cherry's side and covered her mouth with his hand again. "Ah, hello, Atticus, lovely day with alien invasions, huh?"

Atticus simply glared at him, knowing that the strong warlock was trying to keep Cherry from telling the strong boy something, so he simply lifted the strong warlock off the ground and freeing the perky goth.

Cherry panted and gasped in relief. "Patch... Is..."

Drell pinched Cherry's neck. Cherry's eyes lolled back into her skull and she fell forward, flat on the ground.

"Whoops..." Drell smiled nervously with a shrug.

"Drell!" Atticus glared, tightening his grip on the warlock.

"Heh... My fingers slipped..." Drell smiled nervously, then looked nervous. "Oh, my..."

Atticus glanced back as Lilo's house was suffering from more and more damage as the little girls, puppy, and alien tried to escape.

"If we make it to-" Lilo started up a plan as she opened the backdoor.

"You're alive!" the one-eyed alien smiled to Lilo.

Lilo leaned on the door, shutting it instantly. "THEY'RE ALL OVER THE PLACE!"

"I agree." Darla said.

"Running away?" Jumba looked to the victims as he took out his homemade weapon. "Let me stop you!" he then threw it to them.

The four dodged it and it hit the door as the one-eyed alien rushed over.

"You always get in the way!" Jumba scolded.

"Where are the girls?" the one-eyed alien asked. "What have you done to the girls?"

"Hello, Cobra Bubbles?" Lilo used the telephone. "Aliens are attacking my house."

"Things just got worse!" Patch gasped as soon as he saw that Lilo just accidentally called the social worker, thinking he would help them with the aliens.

"No, no, no, no aliens!" the one-eyed alien rushed over.

"Blue punch buggy!" Stitch lifted a blue car and hit Jumba with it before throwing it right at his creator. "No punch back!"

"They want my dog!" Lilo continued on the phone.

"There's no need to alert the authorities," the one-eyed alien told her before taking the phone from her. "Everything's under control..."

"Yeah, everything's completely under control, no need for taking Lilo away!" Darla included.

'Lilo, who was that?' the social worker replied, hearing other voices.

There was then a loud buzzing heard with Stitch's cackle.

"Oh, good, my dog found the chainsaw." Lilo said before hanging up despite being told not to.

Atticus had rushed to make sure Darla and Patch were okay.

Cherry clawed at the ground as Drell held back her legs. "Aaaugh, I have to tell, he's my best friend!"

"If you tell him, it will break his heart!" Drell told her.

"I have to tell him..." Cherry begged as she kept clawing at the ground.

"No!" Drell started to walk backward with her, making her fingernails drag across the ground.

"Pleeeease, I'll do anything!" Cherry pleaded.

Drell found this tempting, but he still wasn't going to let her tell Atticus.

"Drell, for the love of butter!" Cherry begged.

"Oh, I love to hear you beg for mercy,..." Drell smirked. "Sadly, I cannot fulfill your wishes... Now come on, we have to move!"

"ATTICUS!" Cherry cried as she was dragged off.

Jumba shoved a carrot into his gun before Stitch could use it against him and it was about to explode, making the two start to throw it back and forth to each other.

"Guys, just throw it out the window!" Patch told them.

"We're leaving the dogs?" Lilo asked as the one-eyed alien ran with her and Darla over his noodly shoulders.

"Trust me, this is not going to end well!" the one-eyed alien replied as he ran with them.

Eventually, it ended when Jumba caught it, thinking he won the game.

Drell let go of Cherry. "Unless you wanna be blasted to bits, I suggest you accelerate."

"Huh?" Cherry asked.

"RUN, WUSSY GIRL!" Drell urged. "RUUUUN!"

Cherry blinked, then ran with him. Atticus was about to run to get Patch, but Drell picked him up, taking him with them.

"Move, move, move, MOVE!" Drell called as he ran.

Atticus ran with Drell. "I thought you were back at the hotel?!"

"No time to explain!" Drell said as he ran, carrying Patch over his head.

Suddenly, the house exploded and caught on fire. And where it caused for Atticus to stop in his tracks and for the one-eyed alien to accidentally let go of Darla and Lilo.

"Drell..." Cherry panted. "You saved my life..."

Drell hugged her and Atticus suddenly.

"Drell..." Cherry was surprised by his generosity again to her.

"Shut up and call the fire department..." Drell whispered, though he had a tear roll down his cheek and looked grateful that they were both alive and safe.

Cherry did just that. Drell saw that Darla was worried about Patch as well, along with worried about something that was going to happen. Drell looked very emotional for the others, he even took off his glasses and put his hand to his eyes as he looked very broken. Cherry called the fire department and had them come over to Lilo's house as Jumba and the other alien got away just as the social worker was coming.

"Quick, Lilio, we have to hide." Darla told her friend.

Lilo looked to Darla. Darla took her hand and pulled her back to avoid the social worker as a firetruck was on the way.

Drell hugged Atticus. "I'm glad you're okay..."

"Thank you, sir." Atticus nodded.

"You too, Cherry." Drell then said.

Cherry looked shocked that Drell was glad she was still alive and not hurt in any way. 

"Patch?" Drell called for the Dalmatian puppy. "Here, boy!"

Patch came out from behind one of the trees dizzy. "I'm right here."

"Oh, thank goodness..." Drell knelt next to the puppy.

Cherry fanned herself from the large fire. "Phew! Hawaiian heat and a house fire are not what I imagined on this vacation."


	15. Chapter 15

Luckily, the firetruck arrived with the firefighters as the social worker was looking for Lilo to take her away as it was time and he was not at all pleased at what had become of the house.

"Um, guys, where's Lilo, Darla, and Stitch?" Atticus asked.

Patch decided to go after them. Nani came to try to explain everything to the social worker and he was even yelling at her due to the state of the house and that a child at Lilo's age witnessed and was apart of it, finding her to be a very unfit guardian. Once they both realized Lilo was not there, they called for her. Cherry, Atticus, and Drell decided to follow Patch and find the others.

Urchin was coming up, he had a guitar in his arms and had Darla's gift with him, but he looked around and looked down to see a burnt and tattered bow, knowing that it had to be Darla's. He picked it up and looked at the house and he had tears in his eyes, fearing the worst had happened. "No... Please..." he whispered in deep pain and sadness. He wasn't sure what else to do, he just sniffled and went back the other way into the ocean, crying, thinking that maybe Darla had been killed by the house fire. He then heard someone coming and where he hoped it was Darla.

It wasn't, it was what looked like a giant with a whale head.

Urchin looked in shock. "Who and what are you!?"

"I am Captain Gantu, Earth creature..." the mutant got into his face. "I am looking for Experiment 626, have you seen him?" 

"Look, pal, I'm having kind of a bad day..." Urchin said as he wiped some tears he had. "J-Just leave me alone..." he then stormed off to get back home to the ocean as he still cried for Darla. "I didn't even get a chance to tell her..." he whispered painfully.

Darla felt something wrong in her heart, but she just kept going with Lilo to get away from the mayhem. Stitch came over.

Lilo was now very angry with her pet. "You ruined everything."

Urchin stopped as soon as he heard Lilo's voice. Patch jumped out a nearby bush after running for a while.

Stitch looked to Lilo and Darla, he then decided to show why those aliens were after him. He showed his back spikes, antennae, and extra arms. 

"You're one of them?" Lilo glared, then shoved her pet again. "Get out of here, Stitch."

"Lilo, you need to understand, Stitch didn't mean to deceive you," Patch said. "Okay, at first, he did, but..."

Before anything else could be said, they were all instantly shot by a net gun.

"Surprise!" Gantu emerged from the bushes and laughed as he captured Stitch with a few others, then carried it in his large hand. "And here I thought you'd be difficult to catch... Oh, silly me..." 

Nani began to look for her sister while Atticus, Cherry, and Drell were looking for Patch and Darla.

"Urchin, have you seen Darla?" Atticus asked.

"You mean she's alive?" Urchin asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, but she's seems to have disappeared, along with Patch." Atticus said.

"Come on, we gotta move!" Urchin said, zipping by to save Darla, more worried about her than Lilo, Stitch, or Patch.

"Lilo?" Nani called. "Lilo!"

Gantu came stomping by which made Nani fall to the ground and scream in horror.

That sounded like Nani." Cherry said.

"Nani...?" Drell asked.

"Lilo's older sister," Atticus said. "We must be close."

They all saw Gantu making his way a spacecraft.

"There you go..." Gantu released Stitch, Patch, Lilo, and Darla into a glass pod container. "All buckled up for the trip... And look, I even caught you a little dinner." he then smiled darkly to the earth creatures as he went to the front of the spacecraft to take them all back to Stitch's home planet to be properly disposed of.

Once Atticus and the others saw Stitch, Patch, Darla, and Lilo inside the container, they began to try to save them. Drell snarled, he took out his wand and tried to zap at the container. However, his magic bounced off of it and repelled.

Cherry screamed and was hit by the blast, looking slightly burnt. "Ow..." she muttered out before passing out.

"That was totally an accident!" Drell told Atticus.

"Somehow that thing is impervious to magic." Atticus said.

Cherry crawled slightly and fell on her face again randomly in the background.

"It was worth a try..." Drell sighed as he put his wand back.

The spacecraft started up ready to take off as Stitch was able to squeeze his body through the gaps of the container while Patch simply got himself out by breaking out, making a hole big enough for a puppy. Unfortunately, Darla and Lilo were stuck as Stitch and Patch were unknown to Gantu, blown off. Stitch and Patch held each other as they fell without the girls.

"No...." Nani said out of shock.

"Darla..." Urchin whispered, putting his hands to his eyes.

Stitch and Patch were dizzy from their landing as they tried to stand. As they wandered around, they were suddenly struck by a branch.

"Okay, talk..." Nani demanded, glaring to Stitch. "I know you had something to do with this... Where is Lilo?... Talk! I know you can..."

Stitch grunted, then tried to sort himself out. "Okay... Okay..." he then walked over.

Nani screamed and hit him again. Stitch groaned, feeling in slight pain.

"Where's Lilo?" Nani demanded.

"Okay, Nani, just calm down and we can explain." Patch said.

Nani screamed at Patch since he was a dog and talking to her.

"Yes, I know I'm a dog and I'm talking, it's all thanks to Puppy Power." Patch smiled.

Nani blinked, then shook her head. "Where's Lilo?"

Stitch sighed. "Lilo--"

Before he could explain, he was shot by a plasma ray instantly.

"Now all your washing is up!" Jumba called.

"Leave him alone!" Patch barked before biting Jumba.

"Go away!" Jumba glared at Patch as Stitch was cuffed. 

"Hello, Galactic Command?" the one-eyed alien took out a communicator. "Experiment 626 is in custody. We'll wait right here."

Patch continued to fight Jumba and tried to free his friend. Jumba started to use Stitch as a weapon and used him to beat against the Dalmatian puppy. Nani looked over in slight alarm and stunned silence. Cherry's sneeze was heard and she sniffled noisily.

"Will you stop with the sneezing already!?" Drell scolded. 

"I can't help it..." Cherry pouted as she sniffled.

Jumba stopped fighting Patch once he saw Nani looking at them. Cherry, Atticus, and Urchin were about to go forward, but Drell stood in front of them and gently pushed them back with his arms.

"Don't interact with her." the one-eyed alien whispered to Jumba, turning his back on the earth female.

Nani came to them. "Where's Lilo?" she asked in a gentle and broken tone.

"Who?" Jumba asked which made the one-eyed alien whack him. "What?!"

"Lilo... My sister..." Nani said, sounding like she was about to lose it.

"Uh... Sorry..." Jumba was still lost. "We do not know anyone by this, uh..."

"LILO!" Nani repeated, having a breakdown with her only living family left. "She's a little girl this big! She has black hair and brown eyes and she hangs around with that thing!" she then pointed sharply at Stitch which made him wince slightly.

"Oh..." Jumba realized then. "We know her..."

"Bring her back." Nani demanded.

"Oh, we can't do that," the one-eyed alien said to her. "Uh-Uh... That would be a misuse of Galactic resources..."

Jumba decided to break this down gently, even if he was loud and crude before. "See... Problem is... We're here just for him." he then added, referring to Stitch.

"So... She's gone?" Nani asked then.

"Along with Darla?" Urchin added in, heartbroken.

"The other little girl?" Jumba asked.

Urchin nodded.

"I'm sorry." Jumba said to confirm that question as true.

"Look at the bright side," the one-eyed alien said with a small shrug. "You won't have to yell at anyone anymore."

That didn't make either Nani or Urchin feel better at all.

"And you won't have to worry about her annoying you anymore." the one-eyed alien then said to Urchin. 

Nani and Urchin both fell down to the ground and started to cry since Lilo and Darla were gone forever with no way to bring them back.

Jumba didn't want to be apart of this, he wanted to leave. "Come." he told the one-eyed alien and his creation.

Stitch started to follow behind them to go back home, but he looked at Nani, feeling bad for her since he knew Lilo too.

"O'hana." Stitch and Patch said, once the blue alien and Dalmatian puppy went over to them.

"Huh?" Nani looked up.

"Hey, get away from them!" Jumba scolded his creation as he lifted him right off the ground.

"No!" Urchin stopped him, then took Stitch out of his hold. "What did you say?"

"O'hana means family..." Stitch started. "Family means..."

"Nobody gets left behind." Stitch, Patch, and Nani said together then.

"Or forgotten." Patch concluded.

Jumba and the other alien glanced to each other in confusion of what that was supposed to mean. Patch and Stitch began to tell Jumba something in alien language.

"WHAT?!" Jumba nearly exploded. "After all you put me through, you expect me to help just like that?! JUST LIKE THAT?!"

"Yes..." Stitch and Patch nodded.

"Fine..." Jumba gave in and released Stitch from his cuffs.

"Fine?" the one-eyed alien gaped. "You're doing what they say?"

"Uh, they're very persuasive..." Jumba shrugged.

"Persuasive?!" the one-eyed alien asked. "What exactly are we doing?"

"Rescue." Jumba replied.

"We're going to get Lilo?" Nani asked, hopeful.

"And Darla?" Urchin added in.

"Ih." Stitch nodded his head with a smile.

"Not alone though..." Drell walked over, carrying his wand over his shoulder. "We need to get them back too."

"Who are you...?" Nani glanced at him.

"This is Drell, he's, uh...." Cherry said, unsure what to call him.

"My uncle." Atticus said quickly.

"Uncle?" Cherry and Drell looked to him.

Atticus made a gesture to 'just go with it'. 

"Uhh... Right..." Drell said, then looked to the others. "Anyway, you can't do this alone, Darla is Atticus's little sister and we have to save Lulu too."

"Lilo." Nani corrected.

"Whatever..." Drell rolled his eyes. "Let's move, people!"

"Wait, Jumba have way of catching up to them, but we need way of getting to it." Jumba said.

"Need some muscle?" Drell asked.

"Yes, Jumba could use two Earth beings with muscles/strength." Jumba said.

"Know anyone we could ask...?" the one-eyed alien asked.

Drell looked to Atticus, both smirking to each other.

"I hate that look in his eye..." Cherry quietly said, but she was sure she wouldn't get hurt from Drell this time.

"You were referring to yourselves, weren't you?" The one-eyed alien asked.

"Trust me, you want us..." Drell said with a smirk. "I handle everything in my own will..."

"Getting to it then!" Jumba said.

"Tell us where to go." Drell requested.

Jumba began to tell them where they all needed to go and where the one-eyed alien introduced himself as Pleakley.

"Pleakley, huh?" Atticus asked. 

"Yes, Agent Wendy Pleakley." the alien nodded.

Drell and Atticus looked to each other, then burst out laughing at his name.

"What!?" Pleakley glared at them. "It means 'brave warrior' on my home planet!"

"Uh-huh, sure." Drell smirked.

After a short while, they all went off to the direction of what Jumba was looking for on motorcycles.

"I never thought winning a radio contest would bring me to something like this..." Cherry said.

"Oh, did you really think you won out of dumb luck?" Drell looked back at her. "I don't think so! I brought you here myself!"

"But... I won a contest..." Cherry said.

"How do you think you won, you unlucky little monkey?" Drell smirked. "It was me the whole time!"

Cherry's jaw dropped.

"So, you did all of the work?" Atticus asked.

"Long story, I'll explain later!" Drell replied.

Urchin took out the hair bow he collected when he thought Darla was dead and hugged it as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Don't worry, Urchin, we will get Lilo and Darla back." Atticus assured him.

"I hope so..." Urchin whispered, not even hiding his feelings for Darla this time.

Nani, Jumba, Pleakley, and Stitch rode a motorcycle while Drell offered his own way to bring Cherry, Atticus, Patch, and Urchin to where they wanted to go. 

Once Drell and Atticus came to the spot, they started to help get a jet ship out of its trap with their combined strength. And where seeing the jet ship caused Stitch to get excited.

"What?" Jumba smiled as he took out the keys. "Did you think we walked here?"

"Hang on, Goldilocks..." Urchin whispered as he looked up to the sky. "We're comin'."

"I didn't think that human males were so strong." Pleakley said.

"Aww, isn't that cute, he thinks I'm a human..." Drell leaned in and whispered to Cherry with a smirk.

Cherry glanced at him with an estranged shrug and glance.


	16. Chapter 16

Lilo and Darla sat together in misery as Gantu was flying off with them. Lilo took out the picture of her with Nani and their parents, then hugged it as she was very emotional and depressed right now. Darla was the same as she thought she would never see her family or Urchin ever again.

"Connect me to the Grand Councilwoman." Gantu requested.

'Gantu, what's going on?' a female voice replied.

"I thought you'd like to know the little abomination is--" Gantu was about to say until he heard a horn next to him and turned his head to see Jumba and Pleakley's ship. "Is..."

"Hey there, Ugly." Patch waved from inside the ship.

'Yes, Captain?' the Grand Councilwoman demanded since she was being stalled.

Stitch and Patch made fun of Gantu as they steered around, throwing him off slightly.

"I'll call you back." Gantu nearly growled.

"Oooohhh...." Cherry groaned and looked like she was going to be sick. 

Atticus gave her a brown bag for her to barf in. Cherry grabbed it and heaved noisily into it. Atticus then quickly tied her hair into a ponytail so she wouldn't get it messy. Patch and Stitch went right over to the door. 

"Okay, is show time!" Jumba called once Patch and Stitch were into position.

"Let's get them back, Stitch!" Patch told him.

"Right!" Stitch firmly nodded once.

The door was open and the two were then flying into Gantu's ship as he steered with Lilo and Darla held hostage. Drell kept a close eye on Patch. Patch held onto Stitch so he wouldn't fall off.

Cherry looked very dizzy and miserable. "Pull over, I'm begging you..." she whined before her mouth cupped again and she heaved into her paper bag once more.

Jumba and Pleakley's ship nearly crashed against Gantu's as Stitch and Patch busted in together. 

The two then crawled against the glass and came to the back. Stitch started to claw against the glass to let Darla and Lilo out, but struggled with that.

"Come on, break, break!" Patch groaned.

"Little savages!" Gantu snarled. "Get off my ship!" he then pushed a button.

This made the back burners scorch Stitch and Patch with the flames and knock them off the back of the ship.

"STITCH/PATCH!" Lilo and Darla yelled.

This caused for Atticus to become worried.

"Okay, I think I'm better..." Cherry wobbily walked over as the others leaned to watch the two fall from the sky. "What's going on?"

Drell grabbed her by her throat and shoved her to look out the window.

"Oh..." Cherry winced and groaned as she saw what they saw.

Patch and Stitch both had rough landings until they reached the road. There appeared to be their 'froggy friend' from earlier as he was on the road beside them and croaked.

"Stitch and his spotted friend are unconscious." Jumba looked through super binoculars out the window.

"What do we do now?" Urchin asked.

"We stay close," Jumba replied uneasily. "Hope for miracle... That's all we can do."

"Okay." Atticus said, beginning to hope for a miracle.

Stitch and Patch moaned, then stood up together after the frog helped them up.

"Ugh... My head..." Patch rubbed his head with his paw.

Gantu was returning and he shot a blast toward the two. Patch heard the blast and knew that this was the moment he was going to die. He could see his life flashing before his eyes.

He saw the dark and stormy night he came into life and Anita's maid was counting the puppies that had been born from his mother Perdita. Pongo and Roger had been in the other room. 

He could see himself watching Thunderbolt on TV with his brothers and sisters like every night. He saw himself being kidnapped by Horace and Jasper and one time when Amber came to visit with Darla, Jessica, and saw himself meet Atticus for the first time. He saw himself adjusting to the Fudo house and all the changes being brought to him since Atticus adopted him. He saw himself meeting Colette for the first time and falling head over paws in love with her. He saw everything he went through ever since he had been adopted into the Fudo family and where he was going to miss his owner and his family.

"Goodbye, everybody..." he whispered as he was too stunned to even move or properly react. "I'll miss you."

The blast hit him, causing the Dalmatian puppy to howl out in pain.

"Patch!" Stitch cried.

Gantu growled, he may had hit Patch, but he was aiming for Stitch which made him angry.

"Stitch!" Lilo called out.

"PATCH!" Darla and Atticus cried out.

The ship flew above.

"Don't leave us, okay?" Lilo leaned against the glass as Stitch was down there with Patch who did not seem to be moving or breathing.

"Okay..." Stitch agreed, feeling a little emotional, not sure if he even could or not. "Okay..."

There was then a loud horn honk heard to show a giant gasoline truck.

"Okay." Stitch then said, serious and determined.

The driver of the truck seemed to have had a relaxing time driving, but then felt something stop his truck. He went to check out what it was as Stitch had stopped the truck, he then picked up Patch's body and put it in a safe spot so there would be no further damage on the poor puppy and he rushed to get to work. 

Stitch then hijacked the truck and drove it through what was known as Volcano National Park as a couple of tourists were about to take a picture. And where the truck he was driving was filled with a tank of gasoline. He purposely landed through a small pool of lava after a high hop from the truck. Stitch smiled as this was going according to his instant plan due to being faster in thinking than a supercomputer. 

Gantu's ship was tracking down Stitch and was now making it's way over to the Volcano National Park to ambush the genetic illegal mutation. The driver started to shoot again, trying to kill Stitch for sure this time, but he kept missing so far.

"Stitch!" The girls cried out.

"Hmm?" Stitch turned his head, as if he could hear his name being called all the way from there.

"Abomination." Gantu snarled as he tried to corner the blue alien.

Stitch folded his arms as he lay back on the gas back end of the truck. "Stupid-Head." he then made a hole in the tank which made the gas spew out into the lava and the truck exploded and made Stitch fly high up in the air to make it up to Gantu's ship to save the girls. And where he shot right through Gantu's windshield.

Gantu flinched since the glass shattered.

"Aloha!" Stitch grinned.

"You're vile!" Gantu tried to crush Stitch with his large fist, but the experiment kept avoiding with ease. "You're foul! You're flawed!" he then took one last stomping fist.

Stitch lifted it up however. "Also cute and FLUFFY!" he then threw Gantu right out of his own ship, making the whalish alien fall onto Jumba and Pleakley's ship.

"Now all he has to do is save the girls." Drell said.

Atticus was in stunned silence, staring at the floor.

'Drell, are Lilo and Darla going to be okay?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, they're going to be okay." Drell said.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Cherry asked.

"Cherry, just trust me, okay!?" Drell whispered loudly, a bit in pain for Atticus.

Cherry cupped her mouth and kept silent. They both then heard an explosion.

"What was that?!" Cherry panicked then.

"Shh..." Drell put his hand over her mouth and his eyes darted back and forth.

"LILO!" Nani cried out.

They all looked out the window to see Stitch had grabbed the the ship while the girls were holding on to him while he was also holding on to Gantu.

"Good dog!" Lilo smiled to her pet.

David was on his board in the water, relaxing, but then a wave from the ship came over him and he was underwater.

Emily popped her head out with him. "You okay there?"

"Um... I'm fine..." David looked to her. "Say, you came here at a good time, you must love the ocean."

"You have no idea..." Emily smirked.

"Hey, David, can you give us a lift to shore?!" Lilo called out.

"Uh.... Sure!" David called as he looked to all of them, overwhelmed, surprised, and just plain amazed. "Sure! But I'll have to make two trips."

"I'll help." Emily offered.

"Thanks." David smiled.

"Darla, you're okay!" Urchin rushed over to the blonde girl, then hugged her instantly. "I was so worried about you..."

"So worried?" Darla smirked teasingly.

"Get over yourself, Goldilocks." Urchin smirked back.

Darla giggled in response.


	17. Chapter 17

David and Emily helped the others to shore as promised and this whole mess was cleared up.

"So, you're from outer space, huh?" David asked Stitch. "I heard the surfing's choice"

However, before anything else could be said or done, there were alien guards who resembled dinosaurs who were taking Stitch and the Grand Councilwoman was also there.

"Let him go!" Darla glared.

"Hold on." Cobra told her, making a mysterious/surprise appearance with Patrick.

"Dad?" Atticus and Darla whispered.

"Grand Councilwoman, let me explain," Gantu came up to the alien woman who was in charge of everything. 

"SILENCE!" the councilwoman hissed. "I am retiring you, Captain Gantu."

"As in you're firing him?" Darla asked.

"Yes." the Grand Councilwoman replied.

"Actually..." Pleakley spoke up. "Credit for the capture goes to--"

"Goes to me..." the Grand Councilwoman cut him off sharply. "You'll be lucky if you end up on a Fluff Trog farm after we sort this thing out."

Jumba and Pleakley backed up together nervously and quietly.

"I think I should..." Jumba said while trying to get away.

"You!" the Grand Councilwoman called to him. "You're the cause of all this! If it wasn't for your Experiment 626, none of this--"

"Stitch." the alien creation corrected.

The alien woman turned to him. "What?"

"My name Stitch." Stitch explained, liking that name better than 'Experiment 626'.

"Stitch, then," the Grand Councilwoman then returned to her motivation. "If it wasn't for Stitch..." She stopped herself, surprised that the experiment now named as Stitch had talked.

"Does Stitch have to go in the ship?" Stitch asked.

"Yes..." the Grand Councilwoman replied with slight patience.

"Can Stitch say goodbye?" Stitch then asked.

The Grand Councilwoman glanced at him. "Yes..."

"Thank you." Stitch replied, walking over to the Pelekai sisters.

Lilo and Nani hugged the blue alien once he came over to them.

"Who are you...?" the Grand Councilwoman stared at the two.

Stitch looked over to the woman, deciding to explain. "This is my family... I found it all on my own... It's little and broken... But still good..."

Nani gently put her arm around Lilo.

"Yeah..." Stitch nodded. "Still good..." he then smiled one last time to his family and went to get on the ship to be taken away forever.

"Does Stitch really have to go?" Darla frowned.

"Our laws are absolute," the Grand Councilwoman replied. "I cannot change what the council has decided." 

"Lilo," Patrick looked down to his adoptive daughter's newest friend. "Didn't you buy your... Erm... 'Pet' at the shelter?"

That made Lilo think of something and she rushed right over to the alien woman. "Hey!"

This caught the Councilwoman's attention as she looked down at the Hawaiian girl.

"Three days ago, I bought Stitch at the shelter," Lilo said as she took out a pink paper that was in her dress pocket. "I paid two dollars for him. See this stamp? I own him... If you take him, you're stealing."

The Grand Councilwoman took the paper and seemed to smile once she was done. 

"Aliens are all about rules." Patrick and Cobra said together.

"You both look familiar." The Grand Councilwoman said.

"CIA, Roswell, 1973." Cobra gave his input. 

"Ah, yes, you had hair then..." the Grand Councilwoman said to him, then looked to Patrick.

'Can't wait for Dad's response.' Atticus thought to himself.

"I've been around the block a few times..." Patrick replied. "I've known Mr. Bubbles since Roswell from my time in the Men in Black."

"Ah, yes, you were a new recruit back then." The Grand Councilwoman said.

"I'm a little wise beyond my years..." Patrick said with a small modest smile.

"Take note of this," the Grand Councilwoman ordered as she came to Stitch and removed his cuffs, placing him between Lilo and Nani. "This creature has been sentenced to life an exile. A sentence that shall be henceforth served out here on Earth. And as caretaker of the alien life-form, Stitch, this family is now under the official protection of the United Galactic Federation."

This caused for Lilo and Nani to hug Stitch, happy to have him back.

"We'll be checking in now and then," the Grand Councilwoman told them. 

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Cobra replied. "This won't be easy to explain back at headquarters."

"I know what you mean..." the Grand Councilwoman nodded, then was on her way back as Jumba and Pleakley weakly waved and smiled to her. She waved back to them, but whispered to the guard next to her. "Don't let those two get on my ship."

It was then time for the aliens, minus Stitch, to take their leave.

The moment they left, Nani looked to the social worker, confused. "CIA?"

"Former," Cobra replied. "Saved the planet once. Convinced the alien race that mosquitoes were an endangered species."

"My sister would be impressed..." Cherry shrugged to that. 

Atticus sighed sadly. "Patch... Stitch... Where did you put him?"

Stitch began to lead them all to where he put his Earth canine friend. Atticus covered his eyes, but Urchin took his hand to help him there.

Stitch then gestured for them to come where he had hidden Patch. "Here."

Atticus slowly uncovered his eyes as he looked to see his best dog friend and what had become of him. And where he saw Patch on the ground, singed and dead. Darla, Urchin, Patrick, and Emily bowed their heads. Patrick and Emily gently put their hands on Atticus's shoulders as this was a hard time for him.

"It'll be okay, Atticus..." Cherry slowly walked over.

"What would you know!?" Atticus glared at her firmly with tears in his eyes. "You never understand what I'm going through with him and now he's gone!" 

"Atticus..." Cherry whispered, feeling slightly hurt.

This was the first time that Atticus had ever had tears in his eyes and where Cherry had to tell him that she knew along with Drell.

"Uhh... Atticus..." Cherry spoke up with a nervous chuckle. "I have something to tell you..."

"Don't you dare!" Drell glared down at Cherry.

"I'm sorry, but he has to know!" Cherry looked back. "Do whatever you want with me, but he has to know!"

"Cherry, I swear by all that is holy..." Drell gritted through his teeth, shaking his fists.

"Atticus, I knew this was going to happen..." Cherry admitted. "Drell told me."

This caused for dark crystals to form, looking rather dangerous.

"I should go..." Cherry grinned nervously with a sheepish chuckle. "You're going through a tough time..."

"You knew all along and you NEVER EVEN TOLD ME!?" Atticus growled at her.

"Blame Drell, he wouldn't let me!" Cherry actually looked scared of her best friend.

"YOU DIDN'T LET HER TELL ME THIS WOULD HAPPEN?!" Atticus glared at the strong warlock, causing more dark crystals to form.

"Atticus, honey, please settle down..." Emily tried to relax her son.

Atticus began to try to do just that as more and more dark crystals appeared.

"What do we do?" Cherry asked Drell, then looked around for him. "Drell?!"

Drell screamed and ran away, grabbing his broomstick. "I'm outta here!" 

Cherry ran after him. "I knew he wasn't gonna like this!"

Atticus continued to try and calm down and where he did calm down as his father hugged him tightly in a warm embrace.

"Shh... Shh... Shh..." Patrick whispered as he hugged his son. "It's okay..."

As Atticus hugged his father back and his rage began to disappear and all of the dark crystals started to disappear. 

"Atticus, I'm so sorry..." Patrick said.

"We all are..." Emily said softly.

Drell slowly walked over and put his hands behind his back.

"Why didn't you let Cherry tell me?" Atticus asked.

"I didn't wanna break your heart..." Drell said softly. "I know how it feels to lose someone precious, even if it was an animal... You two were best friends... You did a lot of stuff together that you never did with anyone else and now you feel cold and dark without him."

"Actually, yeah, how'd you know I'd feel like this?" Atticus asked.

Drell sighed softly. "I used to have a hamster..." he explained. "We were like you and Patch... Then one day, he came into my mother's posy garden and he ate one... It put him to sleep and he never woke up..."

"I'm so sorry to hear about that." Atticus frowned.

Drell sighed, then took off his glasses. "I'm really sorry, Atticus... And you know the rules of magic... We can't kill anyone... We can't make others fall in love... We can't bring back the dead... I'll do anything you want me to, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can really do... Just know that he's in a much better place and know that he's in Heaven, all dogs go to heaven, because unlike people, dogs are naturally good-natured and loyal."

"Yes, they are." Atticus nodded.

"I'm sorry that there's nothing I can do..." Drell said.

"Thank you for telling me..." Atticus bowed his head. "I'm sorry for yelling at you and Cherry."

"It's all right, I understand." Drell promised.

To everyone's surprise, Patch's body disappeared.

"Did that just happen?" Cherry asked.

"Why, I believe it did..." Drell said. "His time has come..."

"How can you be so normal about this!?" Darla freaked out at him.

"He's become a Guardian Angel." Drell said.

"There's no such thing!" Cherry said.

Drell glanced at her and put his glasses back on, leaning over her. "I'm an all powerful warlock, you've been in a world with singing and talking ponies, your best friend is part merman and wiccan, you can talk to all sorts of different animals, and you've met Fairy Godmothers, including a Fairy Godfather, and you don't believe in angels?!"

Cherry grinned nervously. "Um, yes?"

Drell face-palmed her. 

"So, this is a good thing..." Urchin walked over. "Right...?"

"Of course," Drell said. "The Whippet Angel depicted in dog culture existing into a higher plain has said to reward very noble and special dogs for their good deeds in life by making them Guardian Angels and giving them chances to visit Earth to help those in need, for canine kind."

"Well, this was a good vacation, but we should head home and--" Cherry started to walk off.

"That's why you guys are going to San Francisco now." Drell pulled her back. "I'll explain when the time is right."

"Can our parents come?" Darla asked.

"Who said YOU were going?" Drell glanced down at Darla.

"Please, Drell," Patrick begged. "You know I'm Wiccan... Besides... Atticus needs his family now."

"Well... Okay, since I like you guys like family anyway..." Drell gave in.

"Thanks, Drell." Atticus smiled.

"Sure." Drell smiled back.

"Nobody ever asks about my opinion..." Cherry glanced back.

"You don't have to come..." Drell told her. "Just know that your best friend is in pain after the loss of his one and only pet."

"Patch isn't his one and only pet!" Cherry glared. "He's had other pets.... I think..."

"No, I have never had any other pets." Atticus told his best friend.

"Oh..." Cherry said. "Well, what about--"

Atticus shook his head. "Jaq and Gus don't count."

"I-I-I'm sorry..." Cherry's voice broke. "I had no idea how special Patch was to you..."

"It's okay, I guess I really should have told you that I've never had a before I adopted Patch." Atticus said.

"Atticus, I'm sorry..." Cherry said. 'I really wanted to tell you... Remember when we let Anne-Marie get adopted? He's in a better place with Charlie now..." 

Atticus turned his head. "Could I be alone a moment?"

"Of course, dear." Emily understood better than the others, especially when it came to losing someone she was very close to, it might not had been a pet, but she related a lot better to her son's grief.

Everyone left Atticus alone so he could mourn the loss of his one and only pet.


	18. Chapter 18

"Goldilocks, I know your brother is sad, but I was hoping I could do something for you." Urchin said as they walked out onto the beach.

Darla sighed. "If you want to..."

"Please, have a seat..." Urchin told her.

Darla sat down on her knees as he sat down and brought out the shell necklace he made for her.

"This is for you..."

"Oh, Urchin, it's beautiful." Darla smiled.

"I thought you would like it..." Urchin smiled back.

Darla took it and wore it right away. Urchin then took out the guitar with a smooth smile.

"What's the guitar for?" Darla asked.

"What do you think?" Urchin asked back as he put the guitar in place with his hands in position.

Darla blushed. "You have a song for me?"

"Yes, I think you'll like this as much as I do..." Urchin said softly. "This song is dedicated to you from me from that King of Rock and Roll Lilo had told us about." he then began to strum the strings to make a rock and roll beat and started to sing Elvis's 'Burning Love' to proclaim his true feelings for the blonde girl he had occasionally teased, but deep down, harbored affections for her.

And where each word would touch Darla's heart. It was truly a lovely moment between the two.

"Just a hunk a hunk of burnin'....." Urchin finished the song. "Looooove!"

Darla smiled and clapped at the song.

"So, did you like--" Urchin was about to ask until Darla suddenly kissed him which made his whole face turn bright red with his eyes widening. "It...?"

"I loved it." Darla smiled.

"Wow, I guess the power of music is more powerful than I thought." Urchin smiled.

"You live in Atlantica..." Darla reminded him. "Merpeople just love music..."

"Athena sure did..." Urchin said.

Darla looked. "Did you ever know her?"

"Only heard of her..." Urchin shrugged. "I saw her here and there, but I never got to actually meet her... I heard that she risked her life to save Atticus's though when humans were invading."

"She sure did." Darla told him.

"How'd you witness it?" Urchin asked.

"Time travel..." Darla said. "Somehow, Mom has that ability..." she said, calling Emily just 'mom' know due to knowing her a while and becoming more and more official to the Fudo family than the one she had before.

"You're lucky to have such kind people take you in..." Urchin said. "Before I met Ariel, it was just me and nobody else."

"Well, now you have a loving family." Darla smiled.

"I wouldn't mind a brother though..." Urchin said with a small shrug. 

"At least Uncle Triton finally has a son..." Darla said then.

"Yeah, that's true..." Urchin said, feeling pleased to make that possible. "Um... Darla... Do you like me? If you don't, that's okay..."

"Yes, Urchin, I do like you." Darla smiled.

Urchin smiled bashfully.

Darla leaned over to him, crawling slightly. "How long have you felt this way?"

"Does it matter?" Urchin grinned nervously.

"Yes." Darla said.

"I heard you sing..." Urchin admitted.

"Sing?" Darla leaned back then, back on her knees.

"Well... Yeah..." Urchin sat up then. "We merpeople just love any kind of music... You have a lovely voice... How old are you again?"

"Seven." Darla said.

"You sound more like a grown-up when you sing..." Urchin smiled to her. "No wonder you used to live in Hollywood."

"Awww!" Darla smiled. "Thanks, Urchin."

Urchin smiled back. The two then got very close together as they watched the sunset together, making this moment even more perfect and special between the two of them.

"I never want this moment to end." Urchin said.

"Neither do I..." Darla smiled.

However, there was suddenly a flash of light and both looked down as Urchin's legs disappeared and it was replaced with his green tail fin.

"Aw, come on!" Urchin groaned. "It couldn't have been three days already!"

"I'm afraid it has." Darla frowned.

Urchin sighed as he absentmindedly took Darla's hand. 

"It's okay..." Darla soothed. "I'll see you again soon. I promise."

"Okay," Urchin frowned. "Well, I guess I better get back to the ocean."

Darla gave him a hug. "Thank you for being my friend... More than anything..."

Urchin hugged her back. "See ya on the West Side, Curly Q."

Darla chuckled, then let go, and gave him another kiss. Urchin smiled bashfully, then waved to her, and jumped into the ocean to get back home.

After a short while, Darla went back to her family while Lilo's house was being rebuilt. Jumba and Pleakley actually offered to help since it was their fault. The Grand Councilwoman had left them behind and they had nowhere else to go or stay, so they decided to adopt themselves into Lilo's broken family. Atticus sighed as he sat in the hotel lobby couch as Patrick and Emily were checking out of the hotel.

"It's okay, kiddo..." Drell said as he walked by, carrying a mango in his hand and bit into it, sitting next to him which made Atticus slide up, but only slightly. "Think about this though... Since you believe in angels, God, and Heaven, you're likely to see Patch when he comes down for his mission in San Francisco, that's why I'm sending you over there for him to redeem himself. I heard from the grapevines that someone is itching to steal Gabriel's Horn."

"What?!" Atticus gasped. "But if they do that, then no more dogs can't get up to Heaven."

"Not to worry, my wiccan friend..." Drell said as he bit into the mango again, rather messily which made his hair drip due to it being all over the place. "I know for a fact that this will have a happy ending... You'll see in San Francisco."

"If this is a dog mission, why should we do anything?" Cherry asked.

"Well, there's a young mortal boy interested in magic who's down on his luck..." Drell explained. "He has family problems... His step-mother is going to have a baby, so he's run away from home."

"But why would he want to run away just because his mother is having a baby?" Darla asked.

"Is she really his mom? Or is she like his step-mom? And is he feeling like his parents won't have enough love around for both him and the new baby?" Atticus asked, using his detective skills.

"I just said that it was his step-mother," Drell replied. "He feels that since his new mother is going to have a baby and replacing his biological mother already and this new baby is going to replace him, so he's living on the streets with his dog friend."

"Huh... Deja vu..." Atticus said as that made him think of how when he first met Mo.

"Yes, it is, but unlike Angel, this boy's dog goes out to perform for food to feed her human." Drell said.

"Perform?" Atticus and Darla asked.

Drell chuckled. "I guess it's time for you to go to good old 'San Fran'."

Cherry walked over. "Guess I'm going too?"

"If you do this for me, I promise I'll reward you gratefully." Drell said.

"What is it?" Cherry asked.

"What do you want?" Drell smirked.

Cherry paused to think about it, then settled on an answer. "I want you to be nice to me for two weeks."

"Very well." Drell groaned.

Cherry smirked. "I'm going to enjoy this..."

Emily came over to her family. "Well, we're all set to go... Drell, how soon until you plan to take us to San Francisco?"

"Yeah, it would be wise to let us know." Patrick said, carrying all the luggage.

"I'll let you all go home and rest for now, but when I say, you are all to be ready, no ifs, ands, or buts." Drell said.

"Yes, Drell." the Fudo family replied.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but just know that it's going to get better..." Drell then stood up and threw away his trash. "I'll see you all around later." he then took his leave and would come back for them when the time would be right as they said their goodbyes to Hawaii, but would come again to visit real soon, allowing Darla and Lilo to become pen pals.

The family and Cherry then returned home, it was very late at night and everyone slept in their clothes, but of course, Atticus prayed for Patch before he went to bed. And where Patch was going straight up to Heaven as the Heaven's Gates opened up for his arrival.

To Be Continued...


End file.
